Mana Child V2
by LaDySaMaEl
Summary: Taken to Fa'Diel, Naruto was trained in the ways of Mana. years later he returns to Konoha to fulfill his role given by the Goddess, with the elements guiding him. Currently under slight revision
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I am not profiting from this. For entertaining purposes only

Chapter 1: the Spirits and a boy

October 10, xxxx

It had been six years since the Kyuubi attacked Konohagakure. It had been six years since their beloved Yondaime Hokage died that fateful night, sacrificing himself imprisoning the great demon within a new born babe.

Uzumaki Naruto hid himself in the forests surrounding the academy, his small body covered with many scrapes and bruises. Earlier that day he had been chased by a mob of civilians and ninja alike. Some of which would throw stones and weapons at him. Within his solitude he thought that even with the acknowledgement of the Third Hokage, Umino Iruka, Teuchi and Ayame Ichiraku he was lonely. In his despair and solitude he cried himself to sleep

Now normally such behavior is not common in normal society but this was a different story altogether. October 10, which is coincidentally also Naruto's birthday, was a tragic day for Konoha. The Kyuubi was sealed within Naruto. Most villagers see the boy as the Kyuubi and all of its sins were transferred to him. The cruel words and actions of the villagers ran frigid and deep within the six year old boy which led him into the situation he was in already.

It was already dark when Naruto woke up. He was already starving but was too scared to move, remembering the events that happened earlier in the day.

'What did I do wrong? Why do they hate me?' more questions plagued his mind as he wept bitter tears in silence with the trees as the only witness to his sorrow.

"Please…someone…anyone…help me" he wished to the winds

Suddenly his surroundings began to emit an ethereal light and eight glowing lights appeared before him. The lights formed a circle around him and began to take shape. The first light revealed a brown elderly looking dwarf, the second was a fiery red miniature dragon its body blazing, the third looked like a purple creepy bat with one eye, the fourth had blue green skin and a laid back looking genie-thing, the fifth had a pale yellow glowing head of a girl, her eyes sleepy, the sixth glowed brightly that looked like a crystal or diamond thingy with earrings, the seventh one was simply a humanoid palm tree and the last was a bright blue mermaid.

"Hello young one" said the first "I am Gnome, the spirit of Earth"

"How ya doin' pal-o" said the second "the name's Salamander, spirit of Fire"

"Salutations" the third one said curtly "I am Shade, spirit of Darkness"

"How do you do friend" the fourth greeted "I'm Jinn, spirit of Wind"

"Good evening" whispered the fifth "I'm Luna, spirit of Moon light"

"Ho Ho why hello child" chuckled the sixth "I'm Wisp spirit of proper Light"

"Sweet child" claimed the seventh; smiling at him "I am Dryad the spirit of the Trees"

"No need for tears young von" The last told him "und I am Undine, Spirit of Ice"

Dryad drew closer to him and stroked his tear strained cheek, frowning slightly at his momentary flinch before relaxing to her touch.

"Young one we heard your wish, and seeing as we saw your state of being, we can't help but feel the need to intervene" said Gnome

"What he means is that we'll take you with us. Our boss is also worried for you." claimed Salamander

"Forgive my comrades for their rudeness, but could you tell us your name?" asked Shade looking reproaching at the others "Come now don't be shy."

"N-N-Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto"

"Well Naruto, tell me do you have dreams" whispered Luna

I want to become Hokage when I grow up!" Naruto exclaimed proudly "but I'm afraid that will never happen. Everyone but Hokage-jiisan, Iruka-sensei, Teuchi-ossan and ayame-chan hates me." He finished lamely.

"Don't vorry Naruto, if you come wiz us ve vill make you strong. That is a promise." said Undine.

Naruto looked back at Konoha. 'I'll come back and be Hokage, I swear it.' Looking back at the spirits he nodded to them, accepting their offer. Each spirit then circled him and started to glow. With a flash of light he was gone.

The next few days Sarutobi Sandaime Hokage made a village wide search party for the elusive blonde when Iruka and Teuchi noted the boy's absence for three days. When no trace had been found of the boy he reluctantly ended the search. All that he hoped was that Naruto was safe. Wherever he was.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: the Goddess, the Guardian

Warm.

That was the feeling around him. Everything was warm. He opened his eyes and slowly took in his surroundings. All around him were trees and flowers of every imaginable color. Now that he was fully awake he realized that he was within an old forest. So mesmerized was he that he didn't notice a figure behind him.

"Hello youngling. Do you like what you see?"

Naruto whirled around so fast that he fell on his butt. Gazing at the speaker, his breath had suddenly caught in his throat. The beauty before him was prettier, no, beautiful than his crush, Haruno Sakura. Her hair was as fair as the sun's rays; her eyes were the same shade of cerulean as his. Her immaculately white dress covered her perfect ethereally glowing body in all the right places.

"A Goddess…" He whispered but blushed when he realized that she had heard him and giggled at him.

"Naruto, the spirits and I had been watching you the moment you were born into the world. Nature itself had been serenading your birth when mankind had abhorred it. It kept you safe when mankind hurt you." She told him as she stroked his cheek.

"I-I don't understand." He uttered confusion eminent in his voice

"Do you remember an instance in your life when you would seek the forests rather than people? Do you recall hearing voices in the wind whenever you feel alone? Or when the waters of the rivers would be warm or cool to your touch? When the moon guided you when you were lost?" she asked him as she sat next to him on the soft grass.

Thinking back on it, he remembered the trees around Konoha. He remembered them strong and sturdy, and never broke its branches as it supported his weight. He also remembered the warm feeling he would get whenever the wind would blow around him bringing with it voices from far away.

During his first month in the academy their teacher before Iruka would take them on survival training and would always leave Naruto in the forest and would not come back for him after the allotted time had passed. The sky that day grew dark and before he knew it, it was already late. Just as Naruto was about to lose hope, he felt the wind around him and led him to an animal trail. The weird thing was not the animal trail; it was the flowers. The flowers outlined the trail. The reason that it would probably be the single most bizarre thing that he would ever see in his life was the fact that the flowers **glowed**.

Yes, they glowed luminously like lanterns lighting the path. The teacher that abandoned him was, of course, fired and his forehead protector was confiscated.

He nodded his head. In turn she smiled at him lovingly.

"Um excuse me Goddess- sama, where are we exactly?"

"We are located in the continent of Fa 'Diel, more specifically on an island in the center of the continent, the holy island of Illusia." She told him.

"How Far away is Konoha?" he asked her.

"It is **very** far. The elemental countries themselves are too far away to travel by boat." She reasoned "Why do you ask?"

"Because I promised that I will return one day to become the Hokage. I will protect Konoha as its Shinobi. Even if they are mean to me, Konoha is still my home. I want to protect it and its people even if I die."

She was shocked at his proclamation and surely she smiled. 'A spirit like his only comes once in a millennia. Those who had met him and know him are truly blessed.'

She stood up and started to walk. Seeing her movement, he followed her.

"Naruto, I may not be a ninja, but will you be willing to learn all that I have to teach you of Mana?"

"Yup. I want to learn. I will learn Mana and still be a ninja!" he yelled excitedly.

And soon enough Naruto's training progressed under the Goddess' watchful eye. Within a year his natural ability to harness the power of Jinn allowed him to soar to the skies, much to his utter delight. Under Undine's power, his control over ice and its main element water to the extent that he can summon water from thin air. He learned under the tutelage of Dryad that all things were alive. Never was a day when the trees and plants would bloom and grow to his touch as well as speak to him in their silent language.

On the second year Salamander had trained him to be resistant to all forms of flames. Shade, though never really saw eye to eye with Naruto, taught him of the Darkness and the shadow and how to hide within another's shadow for self preservation purposes. Gnome taught him the ways of earth and its ancient ways. Soon enough he was taught to see the world and its movements through the vibrations within the earth itself as people had done for centuries. Though he had little affinity to Wisp's power of healing light he could use it to an extent to heal minor injuries.

Luna's lessons, however was different. She told him that the Moon's glow could in fact sustain him longer than food could ever do. When in dire need of energy the moon could raise his energy levels and help him regain it faster. She had also taught him the song of the moon to make his enemies fall into slumber. This song, once heard cannot be reversed and will only end when its duration had passed.

On the third year the Goddess called him to her. Upon seeing him she smiled and nudged him to sit next to her.

"Naruto, you have met my expectations and went above them and beyond. Not many chosen by the Great Tree had the talent and aptitude that you had showed with. That is why I shall tell you the truth and the reason why you were so hated by the people of Konoha."

At this proclamation his heart jumped to his throat_. The reason he was hated?_ Why did the villagers act the way they did? He nodded at her and she started.

"Long ago there were nine spirit animals that governed the lands. I had ordered them to guard the elemental countries and keep the peace. This peace continued on for thousands of years. These Guardians were the nine spirit guardians which the humans called the tailed demons. I never could understand why they thought the spirits were demons.

This peace however ended nine years ago when Thanatos, the evil spirit of Mavolia, corrupted the humans into enslaving the spirits and upon their enslavement they too would be corrupted by the spirit of Thanatos. Without them in their correct states of mind, each spirit that had been captured attacked the humans. Nine years ago the nine tailed spirit, Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked Konoha as you were told.

Your Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, was also an orphaned child of Mana just as you are one yourself. Seeing the Great Spirit in pain, he couldn't bear to kill it, and so with the cost of his own life he destroyed the evil Thanatos and sealed the spirit within a newborn who's chakra coils were still developing. That newborn was his own son. Only a Mana Child can calm a Great Spirit and it was the only way Minato could think of to save the village that he had called his home. Even if there was another newborn that night he would never sacrifice another's child if he had one of his own. That was the most overwhelming character that he had. The newborn that was given the privilege to hold the Great Spirit was you Naruto."

"The Fourth was my Father? The Kyuubi is inside me? I guess I could understand his reasoning. If I were in his shoes I would most likely do the same." He told her, his eyes wet with unshed tears. "Please tell me Goddess, is there a way for the Kyuubi to be released? It was wrongfully accused! Eternal imprisonment is not what I would even give to my enemies."

The Goddess smiled. 'Such a kind and generous heart you have.'

"Yes. Though Minato had made a deal with Shinigami, the Great Spirit is technically not part of the living as it is a spirit. And in theory we should be able to free it with help and you won't be affected whatsoever. Naruto, are you willing to meet with the Great Spirit in order to help it?"

He smiled at her knowingly and without reluctance said "yes."

The Goddess smiled at the answer of her protégé and brought her hands up to his face. Looking into each other's eyes they were transported into Naruto's mind

_**Naruto Mindscape**_

Both the deity and the mortal boy found themselves in ankle high waters of a dark and dank sewer. The sewer had only one path that ended at a single door at the end of the corridor.

"Goddess why is my mind like this?" asked the boy as he took to his sad environs

"It is like this because of your experiences in your earlier life. If you had broken at their mistreatment, then your mind would become a deep void."

Both kept silent as they walked the damp hall. After a while the corridor grew wider and less damp and after seemingly hours of walking the sewer setting changed into a forest setting.

'This must mean that my mind is already somewhat healed, if the forest meant anything by it' Naruto thought as he touched the foliage and chuckled when flowers began to grow to his touch.

Soon they entered a clearing and before them was a veritable Eden. Trees of cherry blossoms outlined the clearing, Various beautiful and fragrant flowers littered the grass, the winds and the sun warm on their skin. A lake in the middle of the clearing glistening clearly is reflecting the sky above it. Small animals frolicked and grazed in the grass, the sky was clear. One cloud formation that stood still, unlike the other clouds, had the word 'SEAL' on it and there stood in the center in all its glory was Kyuubi.

"**Good Day to you Goddess, Good day Mana Child."** It said completely without malice

"Good day Kyuubi. I suppose you know the reason why we are here now, am I correct?"

"**Yes. I heard him clearly. The young Kit wishes to free me from my prison which he made into an Eden the moment he had forgiven me."** It said

"Will you allow this? You are one of the Great Spirits, Kyuubi. And being such the God of Death cannot hold you here." She said.

"**Yes that is true. Unfortunately, there will be an adverse effect if I do leave his body. I shall no longer be a Great Spirit and be just a spirit, just as half your soul was before you had become the Goddess that you are now."** It told them.

"Kyuubi, you can always be his guide, his companion. Though your powers will indeed dwindle, a mana child is incomplete without a spirit companion with them. Will you forgo your power, give your Mana to him freely and protect him when times that I cannot?" she beckoned to it.

Naruto walked towards the Great Spirit and touched its massive paw. Both Spirit and child looked into each other's eyes and there in silence a connection was forged between the two kindred souls.

"**Yes. I accept Goddess. This Boy has a great destiny that is yet to be unearthed. I shall give him my knowledge and memories of the world. I will also grand him my companionship upon my freedom. This is my oath to him and to you."** It proclaimed, bowing down to the two beings in front of it.

With a blinding flash the Kyuubi's massive form dissipated into the air around it. The flash pushed both Naruto and the Goddess out of the mindscape back into the real world.

_**Real world**_

Naruto and the Goddess looked on as the spiral on Naruto's navel became dust, each particle glowed a pale orange light. The particles gathered and formed a miniscule shape. It had a very round and white fluffy shape. Its huge almond shaped eyes opened revealing a pair of beautiful ruby eyes. Four small appendages called legs hung limply across its fur. It also had a huge fluffy tail twice as long as its body. The small creature gazed at them both and yipped as it circled them, seemingly wanting to play with them.

"Yes! I'm free. Thank you! Thank you!" it squeaked at them ramming itself into Naruto bowling him over and proceeded to give him licks of affection.

Both Goddess and protégé laughed at the antics of the little spirit especially now that it decided to take a nap on top of Naruto's mop of hair.

The Goddess smiled at the interaction between the boy and the spirit reminding her of days when she too was no less than an ordinary tree maiden. She remembered her best friend, another blond haired boy with blue eyes as they would play in the grass. She also remembered the spirit child that both she and her friend had awakened that day, the same spirit child that gave her a simple white flower upon their first meeting.

'How easily time flies and how circumstances are similar to each other, intertwined fate and destiny. Keldy, please watch over him. Our time together grows short. Keep his spirit strong. He is the only one that can save us.'


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Elements, Great Spirit and Freedom

The next three years Kyuubi and Naruto had formed an incomprehensively unbreakable bond with each other. Wherever one went, the other was sure to follow. Whilst Naruto gave the once Great Spirit someone to talk to, the Kyuubi would tell the boy in return stories of the ancient past which Naruto listened attentively hanging onto every word.

Within those same three years the Goddess had told the pair to seek out the Tree Folk and train with them to learn their art of self defense. The pair did as told and gained a teacher named Lekius. Lekius was once the captain of the guard in the Tree folk village. Upon meeting the duo he had confused them with someone else. When they asked him on the matter he told them that years ago when he was still captain the door to Mavolia had been opened and the world was plunged into darkness. During that time he had been corrupted by the spirit of Thanatos and became an unholy Grimsley. When the spirit of Thanatos came to the city state in Jadd, the land of sand he vaguely remembered as he and his best friend Keldric battled, of which he lost. In his defeat he was sent to the underworld. However, when the world had been saved and the Great Tree restored to its luster, he had somehow returned to the present time, unchanged from how he had looked before being corrupted.

When the tale ended, Naruto dropped to his knees in front of the Archer and begged him to teach him archery and the ways of the Tree folk. Lekius looked at him strangely and was about to refuse when he saw the look in both the boy and spirit's eyes. It was the same look that Keldy held upon his vow to save the last tree maiden all those years ago.

"Tell me, what is the reason why you want to learn my way and the very ways of the treefolk?"

"I want to protect those who are precious to me even if it means my death. I want to protect those people that are precious in my heart even though they don't think the same of me."

Lekius smiled at the answer and agreed to teach him all he knew.

As the archer and his apprentice trained neither noticed the Great tree slowly began to wilt.

The Goddess looked on as the tree that gave them all life was slowly passing away. Little by little the Great Tree began to disappear and in its center a glowing form began to take shape. The Goddess knew that Fa 'Diel was close to its extinction, the seed that was forming would take until the next spring to fully form, until spring before all life in Fa'Diel would cease to exist.

The spirits had sensed this and worried. Though it would not affect them as badly, they knew the unfortunate meaning if one was to become a deity of the Great tree: the Deity was connected to the Great Tree and must be ready to die the moment the flow of mana ceased within its roots.

**One Year Later **

The new spring had finally come and once again Naruto, along with his spirit guardian were summoned by the Goddess. Naruto took a look at his surroundings as he walked and took note that all the vegetation seemed old and wilted.

When the duo entered the Goddess' chambers they were shocked to find her sitting solemnly, her ethereal visage somewhat gone making her appear to be human.

Noticing them enter, she beckoned them to sit down next to her which they immediately did.

"Naruto, tell me, who did you seek to teach you self defense with weapons?" she asked him.

"I was taught by Lekius-sensei. I daresay that I am now quite efficient with the bow as he is." He proudly proclaimed to her in which he was rewarded with her smile.

Many things had changed during the six years that Naruto had been with her, she remembered him as he was then; loud, brash and not to mention clumsy. Now the small boy that she knew had grown up. He was intelligent, as silent as the stars and he had the unnatural grace that fit him like a glove. Not only that but he was now quite a young gentleman in terms with his manners.

"Naruto there is a grave manner that I want to speak to you about. Do you know the Origin is the continent?" she asked him and his companion.

"Not yet, Goddess-sama. Kyuubi was about to tell me the story when we received your summons."

"Good. If you will Kyuubi, tell him our continent's history to him please."

"**If that is what you wish. Long, Long ago, when the world was still flat, back before anyone knew of magic, a tiny yet beautiful island of Illusia floated in the center of the ocean. In those days, even up to now five great countries flourished on the continent of Fa 'Diel: Jadd, the land of Sand; Toppel, the land of Water; Wendell, the land of Green; Ishe, the land of Fire and lastly Lorimar, the land of Ice.**

**On the Island of Illusia stood a Great Tree that existed long before the world began. It was believed that the tree was the mother of all living things in this world. Years had passed and the tree became stone seemingly dead. Now, a thousand years had passed and a young man named Keldy and a Tree Maiden named Ritzia stood and bore witness as Stroud, the lord of Lorimar invaded the island. Seeking for help, Keldy and Ritzia entered the ruins to awaken the guardian beast, Flammie to protect their home. Within the ruins Keldy became host to a Seed from the Great Tree. There they also met a spirit child called Faye. When the trio was unsuccessful in finding the Guardian Beast, they were assaulted by Stroud's men. They were told that the cursed land of Mavolia was sealed beneath the Island. With Ritzia taken hostage, and under the spell of Thanatos, she opened the door to Mavolia, covering the world in darkness and all that it touched turned into Grimslies.**

**Keldy and Faye were lucky and fled Illusia and began a rebellion against thanatos. A year later the pair encountered the Grimsley Lekius in Jadd and defeated Lekius' dying breath he revealed that the world will be overrun by Thanatos in three days. Not wasting anymore time, Keldy and Faye traveled to Illusia where they defeated Stroud and with a heavy ****heart slew Ritzia in order to save her. In her last moments Faye merged herself and the Mana Seed with Ritzia, revived the Great Tree and closed the Door to Mavolia. From then on the three entities, a tree maiden, a spirit and a seed formed the Goddess of the Great tree."**

Naruto couldn't believe it. The Goddess that was in the Story was the same as the Goddess that sat next to him. Ritzia? Faye? What was her real name? This he didn't know. He was not able to say anything on the matter when the Goddess Spoke to him.

"Naruto, as a Goddess of the Great Tree there is something that I must tell you that is very urgent. You have noticed that the surrounding natures around us are already dwindling, dying every minute. The reason for that is this: the Great Tree Is Dying. While it will not harm the spirits in any way and will keep the door to Mavolia closed, Illusia and with it the entire Continent of Fa 'Diel along with me will die. No, don't interrupt. I haven't told you the whole thing yet. As Goddess of the Great Tree, my life, is just as long as the Tree itself but when it dies I will die with it." She told him somberly

Naruto's eyes grew wide at the revelation. She was to die? Sure enough, tears cascaded down his cheeks, his sorrow held in silence. Once he had regained his composure he looked at her in the eye.

"What is to happen to Kyuubi and I?"

She stood up and walked out of the chamber with Naruto close to her heels. They walked until they reached the meadow where both members remembered as the place where Naruto landed. In the meadow formed in a circle were the eight elements. The Goddess then cupped his face with her hands and kissed his forehead before applying an opaque jewel on his head and handed him a seed as large as his hand. At his confused face she replied

"That jewel on your forehead my little one, is a control device. It will control your power levels and store excess mana to feed to the seed in your hand. I ask of you to do this for me Naruto, find a new place, a deserving place to plant the Mana Seed and restore it to its former Glory. I fear that it will be the world's end if the last Seed of Mana will be lost to us."

"How will I know when it is time to plant it? I don't think I am ready for such a responsibility. I know I'm gonna mess up I just know it!" he told her, fear and doubt crossing his features.

"You will know, deep in your heart you will know when the time is right. And don't doubt yourself. Don't be afraid. If these thoughts cross your mind you will hesitate at every turn, at every obstacle. Never tell yourself that you simply can't do it. Anything is possible."

With tears in his eyes he gave her a hug and whispered to her "goodbye, Mother"

The spirits then circled his frame as he let go of her. With a tearful farewell he disappeared in a flash of light.

No was there to catch her when she collapsed and with only a few minutes before her life was forfeit she whispered into the wind before she took her last breath.

"Goodbye… my… child."

**Konoha Hokage's Office**

It was exactly six years since Naruto had up and disappeared from Konoha and Sandaime Hokage had regretted all the time he had lost. When he heard the news of the boy's apparent disappearance he quickly made all available shinobi that didn't hold a grudge against the boy go out and searched for him with dismal results.

**Flashback**

When the villagers found out about their village pariah's disappearance a party that evolved into a festival was formed. When Sarutobi saw the festival he decided to reveal the true nature of Naruto to the people.

Up on the balcony of the Hokage Tower Sarutobi addressed the people

"My Villagers and Fellow Shinobi, for years I had seen a grave injustice that befell one Uzumaki Naruto as he endured six years of maltreatment and injustice. Now I heard of his disappearance and I am sad to say that I am highly disappointed in all of you" the old man admonished but before anyone else had said anything he continued

"Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage and my dearly departed successor and hoped that Konoha would come to love his legacy as he had loved this village up to his death, yet this wish was not realized as he had hoped and so I will tell all the true origins of the boy that you all had adamantly despised.

As you all know that Minato Namikaze was married to Uzumaki Kushina. All of Konoha knew as well of Kushina's pregnancy. On the night the nine tailed fox attacked Uzumaki Kushina went into labor prematurely and had died due to blood loss, all of you were also told that the child she had bought out into the world had died when part of the hospital had collapsed, but truth to the matter was that the child survived. His father took him the moment the child's umbilical cord had been cut. In order to save us, the fourth had sealed the demon within a newborn child.

Everyone knew the extent of Minato's love for the village that he couldn't bear the thought of using another child when in fact he could use his own."

The last statement halted everyone in their line of thought. The last living legacy of their fourth Hokage was the very same child that they would torture. _Yondaime's Son! They had tortured his only son!_ Those that seen the error of their ways began to feel sick to their stomach while those people who were either neutral or accepted the boy cheered and prayed that the said boy would come back safe and sound.

**Flashback Ends**

Sarutobi however remembered the headache that was caused by his two former teammates and council members Homura and koharu as well as the war hawk Danzo as they suggested (more like force him) to make Naruto their weapon upon his return. This was of course an idea violently crushed by an astounding negative reaction of the majority of the clan heads of both the shinobi council and the civilian council, which Sarutobi was happy about.

The aged leader looked at the calendar in the room and realized it was already October ten: The very anniversary of the Yondaime's death, the attack of the Kyuubi and finally the sixth year anniversary of Naruto's unfortunate disappearance. He sighed despondently as he resumed dealing with his enormous paperwork.

Sarutobi did the paperwork without complaint and in silence. Those that work at the tower knew that he was mourning. This happened every year. Sarutobi would cease smiling for an entire day and this scared them.

When Sandaime heard the clock strike ten in his office it was already dark. He decided to end the night earlier than usual. Just as he was about to lock the door to his office he felt a huge chakra wave coming from the school training grounds. He, along with a team of ANBU reached the school training grounds and what they saw was forever etched in their minds.

The surrounding foliage around them started to glow in an eerie light and let loose a torrent of light particles that converged into a shape of a human. Suddenly the form made a blinding flash, making the witnesses cover their eyes. When the light receded all were shocked at the figure that took shape, but not so much as the Hokage.

There lying down in a fetal position was a boy no older that twelve or thirteen. He had long blonde hair that fanned out on the floor, his skin was smooth and pale as alabaster. His clothing was snugly showed off his proportions. These were pale descriptions in comparison to what he saw however. What he saw was the thin almost invisible telltale whisker marks on the boy's cheeks.

Sarutobi's breath caught in his throat though when the boy began to move. Slowly those eyes opened and blinked slowly revealing the same bright cerulean eyes that he had remembered on a small boy that used to visit him everyday in the tower and would flash him his foxy grin to brighten up his day.

When Naruto looked at him after regaining his bearings, the boy ran up to the aged leader and hugged him.

"Welcome back, Naruto" said Sarutobi as he clung to Naruto like a lifeline

"tadaima ojisan…tadaima." Said Naruto as tears cascaded his cheeks

Reluctantly both let go of each other and Naruto was asked to walk with the Hokage back to the tower. As they walked Sarutobi couldn't help but notice the feeling of lust emanating from the owl ANBU especially when he did notice how Naruto dressed and looked.

Gone were the overgrown rags and now he wore a sleeveless forest green turtleneck top that hung just above his midsection showcasing the boy's slender and slightly feminine waist. His pants his earth colored trousers that reached up to his knees rode dangerously low on his hips and on his feet were black toe shoes with ankle straps. The boy's face was quite a show stopper as well. Pale alabaster skin, cerulean blue eyes, blonde hair that reached his back and surprisingly, there on his forehead was a jewel that seemed to change color every few seconds. Well, its no wonder the ANBU leered lustily at the blonde, he was quite the eyecandy!

The way Naruto walked surprised him somewhat. The young man next to him walked in the ethereal grace to his steps, leaving no sounds from his feet on every step. Like an animal about to capture his prey.

Wherever Naruto disappeared to sure did do something to the once very clumsy boy and Sarutobi was anxious to hear the story.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: old home, new life

"So Naruto, could you tell me where have you been? Iruka, me and the Ichirakus were so worried like you wouldn't believe." Said the venerable leader when they entered his office.

"Gomen ne ojisan" Naruto simply said walking over to the fern growing in the corner of the room.

"Could you tell me at least what that jewel on your forehead is for? And why does it change color?" questioned Sarutobi as he stared at the jewel as it glowed.

"This is to control my elemental affinities and each color corresponds to a different element." The boy told him.

When Sarutobi asked where he went Naruto told him about Fa' Diel, about the Island of Illusia, about the Treefolk, about the Great tree and of the Goddess. The Hokage's eyes bulged at the tale yet even he knew that it wasn't over.

"Anything else Naruto?"

"Actually, yes there is. The Goddess also freed the Kyuubi from within me." Said Naruto and continued his explanation of the Spirit of Thanatos before the old man could start to rant and consequentially have a heart attack. It was only then that Sarutobi saw a miniscule white figure lying on the boy's head.

At the Sandaime's gaze Naruto reached up to his head and settled the guardian gently on the wooden table.

"Gramps, I would like you to meet my friend and spirit Guardian, Kyuubi no Kitsune" Naruto introduced as the fluffy white ball floated slightly off of the table and made a gesture that looked somehow like a bow.

"**I know it is too late for me to say sorry but please understand that I could not help myself as I had no control over my actions. Do not worry about me attacking Konoha ever again because simply I couldn't. Naruto has all of my power locked within him and I cannot access it. I am only a spirit and nothing more. However, I will tell you the being that caused me to rampage. **

**The man reeked of snakes he was as pale as death with eerie yellowish green eyes. The Spirit of Thanatos has corrupted him beyond measure. He cannot be saved from it, unfortunately."** Said the spirit.

'Orochimaru' thought the leader, a frown marring his features.

"There is also another reason why I am here Ojisan" said Naruto and told him his mission concerning the Mana Seed.

"I understand Naruto and I'm sure you know about your parentage?" at the boy's nod he continued "you will live in the Namikaze estate from now on. Here are your parents' scrolls on all of their techniques, and other important documents." The old man said handing the said scrolls to Naruto.

"Ojisan, would it be possible for me to be a shinobi?" Naruto asked him.

"Of course Naruto! Your methods are very unorthodox, but I'm sure you could rise up to the challenge." Said the old man.

And with that Sarutobi handed him a leaf forehead protector which he tied to his neck under his turtleneck.

"The Genin Exams have already passed an odd number of students this year so with you graduating evens it all out. After three days go to the academy and head for Iruka's old classroom at exactly seven am to be assigned to your respective team." With that done Sarutobi invited Naruto to stay the night in his house which the boy immediately agreed to.

Three days later…

Iruka grew tense at the sudden visit of the Hokage to the Graduate batch as the venerable leader announced that there will be a new student that will be joining the class.

There was a crisp knock at the door and after a few seconds it opened. The figure that walked towards the leader threatened to make Iruka's legs give out in pure shock.

"Everyone, this is Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. I expect you to welcome him into your ranks." Announced the leader.

All of the students looke at the newbie in front of them. The female portion of the crowd drooled at the example of extreme bishieness of the new kid in front him. The male portion of the class had the almost same reaction.

The only ones that weren't affected were Haruno Sakura, the bubblegum pink haired banshee that looked at him in disdain and suspicion before looking away and returned to ogling the class rookie, Uchiha Sasuke, who in turn looked at him as if he was below him. (Yes I hate both Sakura and Sasuke teme with a passion)

Naruto however found the gaze of the rookie and felt a chill down his spine. The Spirit of Thanatos, though only a little bit, had already tainted the Uchiha. He had to watch out for this one.

After introductions were done Naruto sat next to Inuzuka Kiba and his dog Akamaru and all were shocked when the small puppy leapt off of his master's head and layed himself on the new boy's lap.

"Now then everyone, listen carefully as I announce your team" said Iruka getting out of his shock. "Team 1 …Team 7 will consist of Namikaze Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and finally Uchiha Sasuke ( SHANNARO, LOVE CONQUERS ALL! TAKE THAT INO- PIG!) to be led by Hatake Kakashi; Team 8 will consist of Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, and Inuzuka Kiba your Jounin sensei will be Yuuhi Kurenai; Team 9 is still in circulation so Team 10 is made up of Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akamichi Chouji." After the announcement of teams everyone left for lunch.

After an hour everyone returned and waited and one by one the jounin instructors came and took their respective teams until only team seven were left alone.

Three hours later…

"Where is he?" screeched Sakura, peeved off for waiting for so long "how dare he make Sasuke-kun wait so long!" She screeched for the last time.

Sasuke ignored the fangirl and focused on the boy sitting near the window sill as the wind blew at his face. ' hmph, he's a nobody.'

Then the door finally opened to reveal a tall man with gravity defying silver hair and his face was completely hidden all except his right eye and greeted them.

"Yo. Team 7, my first impression of you all is I don't like you. Meet me at the roof"

Sakura and Sasuke left the room and headed for the roof and didn't even notice their third counterpart leave the room via the window. When the rookie and his pink shadow arrived on the roof they were surprised that the newbie was already there next to their Jounin instructor.

"Introductions are in order, you first pinky" said Kakashi

"How about you start since you're so late Sensei, it's only proper." Said Naruto to the man

"Ok. I'm Hatake Kakashi. I have many likes and dislikes, and my dreams, you are all too young to know." He said nonchalantly.

'All we learned was his name?' Thought all three students

"My name is Haruno Sakura, I like…(looks at Sasuke and giggles), I hate Ino-pig and my dream is…(looks at Sasuke and giggles)"

'Great a fangirl' "Next you, Duck Ass" pointed Kakashi to Sasuke

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke, there are very little things that I like, there are a lot of things I dislike and my dream, no, my ambition is to kill someone and resurrect my clan"

'An Avenger, figures' "lastly you Blondie"

"I am Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, (Kakashi's eyes grew wide at this) I like Nature, my precious people and training, I hate something that none could understand and my dream is to fulfill my role given to me by my dearly departed mother figure."

'…an avenger, a fan girl and a mystery.' "now that we know each other I will conduct the REAL genin exam with an almost 66 percent rate of failure . Meet me tomorrow at training ground 7 at 0800 hours tomorrow. Don't eat breakfast or you'll puke, Dismissed" and with that the Jounin left in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto also left by jumping off of the roof only to land gracefully on the ground four floors below him much to the astonishment of his teammates.

Naruto walked off and decided to visit Iruka at Ichiraku Ramen who began to mother hen him and asked him loads of questions which he answered with the best of his ability whilst inhaling vast amounts of ramen much to the joy of the owner and his daughter.

As the sun set over the horizon, Naruto bid the three goodbye and headed to his home to sleep, ready to take the exam the next day.

**Next Day**

It was another day in Konoha, the sun had risen, the birds are chirping, the people going on their normal everyday routine. It's as if everything was simply perfect.

"SHANNARO! WHERE IS THAT !*&^% JOUNIN!"

Well…not everything. Team 7 was told that they were to meet at 8:00 am for their test. However, their Jounin sensei had not made an appearance yet and did we mention that it was already 11:00 am.

Here we see Sasuke with the usual scowl on his face quiet in his fury and hunger. Next we have Sakura who is presently ranting up a storm, her stomach growling unladylike in its protest. Lastly, we have Naruto who is…asleep on a tree, he seems also very comfortable.

"When I get my hands on that Jounin I'll…I'll…." She trails off before screaming her frustration into the heavens.

'Should tell them that he's just hiding in the bushes?' asked Naruto to Kyuubi in their mind link who was hidden in his clothes around his neck.

'**Nah, let them look like headless chickens. They're so entertaining that way. It's a good thing you don't need food as much as other people need it especially with what Luna taught you. Oh he's about to make an appearance**' said Kyuubi.

Naruto suddenly jumped off of the tree and greeted "Good Morning, Kakashi sensei" much to the confusion of his other temmates.

A few seconds later Kakashi poofed in front of them and greeted back

"Good morning, Naruto-san, sorry I was late I had to buy a new alarm clock because a rabid bunny rabbit had eaten it this morning."

"LIAR!" screamed Sakura.

"Anyhow, here is the test." Kakashi took out two silver bells from his pocket and held it with one hand and three bento boxes on the other. "This is what I want you to do. You have to get the bells from me within an hour. It's already 11:00 so at exactly noon my alarm will ring and whoever doesn't get the bells within the time limit will be tied to the post over there" he said pointing to the three wooden posts one of which has an alarm set on top of it. "Those who don't get a bell will be sent back to the academy" he said to them "eye smiling" at them at their shocked faces.

"You must come at me with the intent to Kill. Okay on my mark, set, Go."

The moment Kakashi said go something was wrong. Sasuke and Sakura were still there but where was Naruto. Before he could comprehend what was happening, three arrows shot towards him in rapid succession of which he barely dodged. This gave the other two ample time to hide un the bushes. Kakashi could feel where the other two were hiding but where was the third one. He couldn't sense or even smell where Naruto was.

Naruto hid himself just as Lekius had taught him. Fading out and cloaked himself in mana, he blended himself to the surrounding nature as his camouflage (imagine predator way of fading if you have watched Predator). Something wasn't adding up. Why put them in teams of three when they are being separated? Then it hit him.

Teamwork

They had to work together to reach a common goal. In this case it was the Bells.

He looked for his teammates and found Sakura a few moments later unconscious.

'She's probably caught in an illusion.'

With that he woke her up and asked her to join forces with him.

"Why should I do that Naruto-baka?" she asked incredulous at the idea.

"We can't defeat a Jounin, Plain and simple. Our only chance to get the bells is to at least work together. So, what do you say? Are you in or not?"

After she thought about it she shook her head.

"Sorry, Naruto. That's a great idea and all but…quite frankly I still don't trust you. I want to join in on your idea but…" she trailed off as she fidgeted.

"No, it's ok. It was a long shot anyway." He sighed before he faded in front of her as she gaped.

When he found Sasuke and told him the plan he was violently shoved out of the way and as the avenger retreated he said to the archer

"I don't need you or that girl to slow me down. I WILL get a bell for myself and become genin in order to kill HIM."

With that proclamation Sasuke charged their sensei and attacked the man with the Uchiha taijutsu style which was dodged effortlessly by their sensei as their said sensei was reading a small orange book, giggling like a schoolgirl every few seconds. Aggravated at the blatant ignorance of the teacher sasuke punched the jounin only for him to poof into a log.

"Konoha taijutsu Ougi: Sennen Goroshi!" Sasuke felt himself fly to the air, pain erupting form his rear end at the super ass poke.

Getting up from embarrassment, Sasuke quickly made hand signals and announced

"**Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" **

'His chakra capacity wasn't supposed to be big enough for that jutsu!" thought Kakashi as he kawarimied away, the replacement log incinerated.

Sasuke looked all over the clearing. Will he appear to the left? Right? Up? The sides? Suddenly something caught his legs and he was pulled down into the ground with only his head sticking out.

"you're good Sasuke, I couldn't even read my book when you attacked but you have to get your head out of the gutter or you'll never be able to accomplish anything." At this proclamation the Uchiha scowled and gave a death glare that would probably make Orochimaru proud.

Just then the bell rang loudly in the entire training ground signaling the end of the test. Kakashi faced his students after tying Sakura on the pole as she had done nothing.

"Well I must say that none of you will be going back to the academy" Kakashi said giving a glimmer of hope to 2/3 of his team, Naruto's expression was making him quite nervous but he carried on "you should just quit being ninjas all together" at that the others hopes somewhat shattered

"No, they don't Kakashi-sensei." said Naruto as he handed Sakura and Sasuke a bell each.

"When did you get them?" asked a surprised Kakashi when something was glowing hot right next to him. Turning around, he was surprised at a ball of fire floating right next to him.

"I didn't get them. He did." smiled Naruto as the ball of flame came closer to him. When it was near enough it began to take shape and took the form of Salamander.

The little fire spirit looked at kakashi and playfully gave him a raspberry before he faded.

"That was the Spirit of Fire, Salamander. I summoned him when Sasuke made that fireball Salamander was able to take form from within the flames and nabbed it from your person. The embers of the flame that ended up near the forest where I was, was enough to give him time to give them to me"

"Well done. Now since you took them from me with assistance, could you also tell me the purpose of this test?" eye smiled Kakashi.

"The answer would be teamwork. My late sensei Lekius told me that all things in this world are interconnected. No being can be alone so all things work together in order for everything to work properly." Said Naruto

"That's right. Remember that since you work with teammates you must be willing to risk yourself and trust your companions. Remember, those who disobey rules are trash, but those that abandon their comrades are worse than trash. Team 7 officially passes. Your first mission as a team begins tomorrow. Dismissed." And with that the Jounin disappeared in a puff of smoke.

**Hokage** **Tower**

The team leaders arranged themselves in a half circle around their leader and began their report.

"Teams 1 until 6 all failed, Hokage-Sama" reported a random Jounin

"Team 10 passed. It looks like we have the beginnings of the new InoShikaCho. Ino starts bossing everyone else around, Shikamaru is a brilliant strategist and Chouji is the muscle of the group." said Asuma as he inhaled the cancer stick before exhuming a ring of smoke.

"Team 8 passed. Hinata is good with her bloodline limit but has little to no confidence, Shino is silent and slightly creepy but loyal to his team nonetheless, while Kiba is the loud one but knows exactly how to work with others when needed." said Kurenai.

"Team 7 Passed." said Kakashi earning him stares from fellow jounins as he NEVER passes any genin before now.

"Please continue" urged the Hokage

"Team 7 Passed. Sasuke is good but lacks social skills as he is a self appointed avenger, Sakura has little to no talent and too much of a fangirl for my tastes. Naruto…is probably the most unorthodox fighter we have. During the test I could not even sense his presence and he uses _different_ means to fight."

"What kind of means?" asked Kurenai.

"He uses arrows and as far as I saw earlier he summoned a 'Spirit of Fire' he named Salamander."

"In any case we have nine students who passed this year and I expect all of you to teach them fairly. Dismissed." said the Hokage ending the day.

When all of the Jounins left the Hokage looked at the portrait of his successor

'He's grown up into a fine boy, Minato. I know you and Kushina are as proud of him as I am.'


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I am not profiting from this. For entertainment purposes only.

Chapter 7: Wave Cleaver Ice part 1

It had been a week since Team 7 passed Kakashi's exam and now they endure the horror of all ninjas: D rank missions. They had been planting things, babysitting, plumbing, walking dogs & cleaning for the past week and they are starting to get sick of it. Currently they were on the mission of common notoriety and stupidity: chasing the Feudal Lord's wife's cat.

"Duck butt here. Eastern perimeter secured, over. Target is in sight."

"This is Bubble Gum. Western perimeter also secured. Where are you Blondie?"

"Blondie is here. I am directly in front of target. On the count of three everyone pounce on that cat."

"Three…Two…One…Now" together the three genins broke into a run and cornered Tora.

The cat, looking for escape routes, jumped into Sakura's direction and heartily scratched the kunoichi's face as it tried to get away. It also did the same thing on the self-appointed avenger as he lunged after it. The cat jumped back and began to hiss at them when another boy came in front of it and kneeled down. To the rest of the team's surprise, Tora didn't retaliate at the blonde. Instead it sauntered over to the boy and began to rub his head on the boy's palm and mewed in delight.

"Let's see, cat with bow near left ear (left or right?). Yup, that's Tora. Mission accomplished. Everyone report back to the Hokage Tower

"How the heck did you do that, Naruto" asked Sakura as she nursed the scratch marks in her face.

"I don't know. Maybe Tora just likes me better." He told them as he scratched the feline's head rewarding him with an even louder purr.

**Hokage** **Tower**

After the team returned the cat to the Daimyo's wife (with some minor reluctance on Tora's part) they were about to get another mission concerning kindergarteners when Sakura inadvertently snapped.

"No more! Please with all due respect, Hokage-sama, no more D ranks. Couldn't you give us a higher ranked mission?" she complained

As soon as Iruka, who was on duty that day, began a rant on the importance of mission ranks the rest of the room's occupants sighed in embarrassment.

"All right, since team 7 had indeed made the required amount of 27 D ranks I am awarding them with a C rank mission. Iruka-kun, send him in." chuckled the old leader.

The door opened revealing a middle aged man with tattered clothing and stank of sake.

"I am the super bridge builder Tazuna. These brats are supposed to protect me? One is a skinny little nobody (points to sakura), a kid who needs to get out into the sun more (points at Sasuke), and an androgynous blondie who…" Tazuna was unable to continue his scrutiny as he was currently pinned to a wall with a flaming hand near his 'precious cargo' (you know…the male forbidden zone).

"Mr. Tazuna we haven't taken the job yet but let me advise you that it is very unwise to piss off your protectors even protectors as young as us" Naruto hissed at the man and stared at him with cold blue eyes.

The people in the tower were shocked, more so than his teammates and loved ones. No one had ever seen the calm blonde so…so livid.

"Now, now Naruto no threatening the customer" chided Kakashi bonking Naruto lightly on the head with his book to stop threatening Tazuna which the blonde eventually did.

"All right, teams 7 meet me at the north gates in four hours. Bring three weeks of supplies. Dismissed." ordered Kakashi.

**4 hours later**

Everyone was ready including Kakashi who was surprisingly punctual. The group left Konoha and began a leisurely pace going to Nami no kuni. On the way, Sakura asked a lot of questions about Wave which Kakashi answered the best of his abilities whilst giggling perversely as he continued to read his little orange book. Sasuke kept his scowl on and started his internal rant on being an Avenger. Naruto kept quiet about the fact that at the pace they walked some nonexistent saplings would pop up from the ground guiding their way. Tazuna, on the other hand, kept fidgeting and nervously glancing his surroundings and was packing in a whole lot of sake that would surely cause problems for his health in the future.

They were nearly half way on their journey when night had indeed caught them. While Naruto hunted for food the others set up camp. About an hour later Naruto came back with a wild pig for the group to eat. As the team ate they all noticed (yes, even Tazuna) that their blonde teammate had barely touched the food. After everyone was done eating, kakashi stored the leftover meal into a sealing scroll and they talked about who would take the first shift of guard duty. Instantly, Naruto volunteered.

When Tazuna and his remaining students fell asleep Kakashi snuck around the edge of the camp and looked for Naruto. When the Jounin found him bathing in the nearby stream he could not take his eyes off of the vision in front of him. There was Naruto in all his naked glory. His skin glistened; water cascading down his lithe form, his skin had an ethereal glow to it. The thing other than the sensual body that was before him had caught his eye was the moonlight. The rays hit the surface of the water and began to form into particles which were absorbed into the blonde.

So mesmerized was he that Kakashi didn't notice his student already staring back at him. All of a sudden a vine crept up the Jounin's legs and lifted him off the ground leaving him to hang upside down.

"You know, it is quite rude for someone to peep at a bathing person."

That statement drew Kakashi out of his lewd fantasy as a blade of ice was dangerously close to his throat by a very wet and very naked Naruto.

"Ah, Gomen ne Naruto-kun, I won't tell a soul about this. Could you tell me what was up with the moonlight and your body absorbing it fully." bargained the Jounin to his student and surely enough the vine withdrew its hold of him and he fell to the ground.

"If you must know, that is how I get energy. I had been taught that the moon can replenish my energy reserves as well as helps me to survive a long time without food." the genin explained to his sensei.

"Could you teach me how to do it?"

"Unfortunately, no. once a human being reaches a certain point, their connection with the spirits are severed. A toddler may in fact be able to learn it if they have nothing hinder their communication with the spirits."

"Could you tell me who is guarding the camp if you're here bathing?"

"Luna is guarding the camp. She is a spirit of the moon and I trust her to take good care of the others." Naruto said as he clothed himself.

As soon as the pair returned to the camp, Kakashi saw something floating above the campsite. It was a pale yellow head of a drowsy looking girl.

"I hope they aren't any trouble, Luna" said Naruto as he got closer to the spirit

"No, I gave them good dreams tonight to protect them" she whispered before vanishing.

Without any more questions, Kakashi finally slept. As soon as the sun rose the group woke up only to realize that none of them relieved Naruto from guard duty only to find the blonde quite relaxed and not even the slightest been tired. The group muttered their apologies and ate the left over dinner. After an hour they packed up and went on their way.

As the group walked Naruto saw a puddle in the road. 'That's odd. It's been a really dry season.' Naruto thought but stopped when he felt that the water wasn't even real at all. The group walked past the puddle and the puddle took form of two men. But before the two were able to attack the puddle froze over leaving them pretty much stuck in their position. Only their heads were visible.

"You two are the Demon Brothers. You know you shouldn't have used that illusion as it had not rained for a week now." smiled Naruto at the trapped duo.

"Good job Naruto. Now would you tell us why you attacked us and Tazuna, would you kindly explain why you lied about the mission details? This is clearly no C rank mission, it's most likely a B if not an A rank mission" declared Kakashi as he stared at the bridge builder.

Tazuna told them what was really happening in Nami no Kuni. He told them about the poverty because of Gatou the shipping magnate and in retaliation Tazuna was building a bridge to take away Gatou's control over the country's economy. He also told them the reason Nami no Kuni lied was because it was all that they could afford at the moment.

"you know that Tazuna, Konoha is liable to not continue this mission. But for the benefit of the doubt, what do you kids choose?"

"Continue." Said Sasuke determination in his black orbs

"Continue." Copied Sakura to impress her crush

"Continue. Majority wins sensei." smirked Naruto.

And so the group continued the mission. After another long walk they finally reached Nami no Kuni. They took a boat that took them silently in the country. As they neared shore, everyone got a glimpse of a massive bridge and was astounded. When they landed on the shores Tazuna thanked the boatman and they carried on their way.

As they walked closer to their destination Naruto suddenly drew his bow and shot at the foliage where a white rabbit came out and scampered past them.

"Why'd you do that Naruto-baka?" cried Sakura

"That was a winter rabbit. Don't you guys think it strange that a rabbit has white fur when it's obviously summertime? Didn't you notice that haru…GET DOWN!"

Kakashi pulled down their client and Sakura while Sasuke and Naruto dived to the ground as a huge cleaver came out of the foliage almost skewering them lodged itself to a nearby tree.

"So, at last I meet the famous copy-nin Kakashi eh?" sounded a creepy voice as the fog rolled in.

As they got back their bearings they noticed a man near the sword. His forehead protector identified him as a Kirigakure nukenin. While he wore no shirt, he wore a set of white hakama style pants with underbrush camouflage leg and armbands. Bandages covered the lower half of his dark face.

"Momochi Zabuza, Demon of the Mist. What do we owe the pleasure?" said Kakashi

"The old man is my target. Hand him over or die" the nukenin said as he dislodged the massive cleaver and heaved it over his shoulder.

"Sorry Zabuza, I can't let you do that. Kids protect Tazuna." said Kakashi as he moved into a stance and lifting the forehead protector from his covered eye revealing the sharingan eye.

Sasuke was shocked. How was it that Kakashi has his family's bloodline limit? But before he could answer those questions the fog grew denser as Zabusa did the Kirigakure no Jutsu.

"Ah, the Sharingan eye, I never thought that I would have the honor of being able to see it in battle." said Zabuza as he disappeared into the mist.

"Eight points," came Zabuza's creepy voice from somewhere in the mist. "the larynx, spine, liver, collarbone, jugular vein, kidneys, brain, and the heart. Now where to stab? So many choices so little time"

All the genin were on high alert. Suddenly Naruto shot an arrow just above their client revealing Zabuza with an arrow straight in the noggin only to dissolve into liquid.

"At least one of these brats is a challenge. The other two however are pathetic. They don't deserve the right to have their hitai-ate."

"Enough of this small talk, if you want to get Tazuna you have to go through me. said Kakashi.

And so their battle ensued. Zabuza swung his sword down on his opponent only to be blocked by a kunai. Seeing that this was useless Zabuza jumped back only to have Kakashi attacking him head on. Their battle continued on that is until Kakashi and Zabuza stepped on the waters

'Why is the water heavy' thought Kakashi only to realize the trap around him and soon enough he was encased in a sphere of water.

"**Suirou no Jutsu**. Nice try Kakashi, but not good enough I'm afraid." chuckled Zabuza

"All of you take Tazuna and run. Suirou no Jutsu needs the close contact of Zabuza for it to work." cried Kakashi within his watery prison.

"True, but my mizu bushin CAN" countered Zabuza as blobs of water began to form into a group of Zabuzas around the group only for these copies to turn into ice. The ice Zabuzas then turned and began to attack their human likeness. The sudden attack caused the original Zabuza to let go of the sphere to avoid getting a critical hit from his own clones as they exploded into a shower of ice shards.

It was then that Kakashi noticed that while the prison dissolved around him did he see a mermaid thing on the water's surface. When he looked at Naruto the jewel on his head glowed pale blue.

"Let's continue on shall we?" said Kakashi as he perfectly copied the missing nin's every move as both nins created **Suiton Suiryuudan no Jutsu** each.

"How is it possible? Can you predict the future?" said Zabuza his body near a tree

"Yes, and your future is death"

Just as Kakashi said this something flew in the air and pierced Zabuza's neck killing him.

"You're right he did die." said a hunter nin as he appeared, the mist dissipating.

"You're a hunter nin from Kirigakure." Said Kakashi as he checked Zabuza's pulse 'definitely dead'

"Forgive me for not showing myself earlier. Now I must dispose of his body." The hunter nin said heaving the limp arm of the corpse on his shoulder and disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Kakashi then dropped on the ground like a sack of potatoes much to the worry of the students.

"Chakra exhaustion, sorry but I won't be able to move for a while." Muttered Kakashi lamely

"Well then you all can stay at my place. You all deserve it" smiled Tazuna as Sasuke end Naruto hefted their instructor and followed the man to his house.

Elsewhere a certain hunter nin waited as Zabuza woke up and took the needle out of his neck.

"Haku, you have the finesse of a butcher." The man drawled as his companion took off his mask to reveal a very feminine looking boy.

"Well, I did learn from the best Zabuza-sama. But you need at least a week of rest before you can fight again." Smiled Haku to his master "Sir the blonde boy with them…I noticed that he is quite an anomaly, are you interested in the boy?"

"Yes. I noticed as well. He is a bigger challenge than anyone else. Nevertheless I will defest the sharingan."

**Tazuna's House **

That night while everyone slept Naruto crept over to kakashi's sleeping form and placed his hand on the jounin's chest. His jewel and his hand began to glow a white light healing Kakashi and restoring some of his chakra reserves. After a while Naruto noticed that Kakashi's face, though covered with a mask, was beautifully contoured and his features obvious to the mana user. All in all Kakashi was indeed a sight to behold and truly drool worthy. With him done healing the man, Naruto kissed the man's forehead stood up and left not noticing that the man was indeed awake and was blushing up a storm at the teen's actions.

Please rate and rant about it...


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 8: Wave Cleaver Ice part 2

The next day all the genins and Tazuna gathered around Kakashi surprised that the man was sitting up. They all were discussing the battle yesterday when Kakashi asked them all a simple question.

"What did the hunter nin use to take down Zabuza?"

"A senbon needle" answered Sakura

"Correct. The body has as well points in its body that can render a person immobile or even in a state of suspended animation or in a deathlike state" continued Kakashi.

"so are you saying…" trailed off Sasuke

"Zabuza's alive though he is incapacitated at the moment." Finished Kakashi

The occupants of the room fell silent thinking upon the dread that they are feeling at the prospect of meeting with the missing nin again. The door to the room suddenly opened revealing a small boy scowling at them.

"You all better go home now if you don't want to die!" as quickly as he said those words he left them and went to his room. The little boy also irked Sakura but was prevented on taking action when her teammates stopped her.

"You'll have to forgive my grandson, Inari. His father figure was killed by Gatou and he never got over it." apologized the old man to the group.

"Well since it's certain that Zabuza will be detained for a week all of you need to train. We'll start tomorrow." Said Kakashi dismissing them for the day

While Tazuna and his teammates went downstairs to help Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter Naruto went straight to Inari's room. When he reached the boy's room he heard the sounds of crying and he opened the door.

"Inari, forgive me for trespassing but I was worried when you ran off like that. May I sit down?" at the boy's silence he took the silent invitation and sat down next to the boy.

"Why do you care so much? Do you all want to die? Gatou kills everyone who crosses his path and all of you are no exception. Why do you all try when you're not even from around here? Why?" screamed Inari facing Naruto and continuously pounded on the ninja's chest in emphasis.

Inari was shocked however when the boy in front of him enveloped him in a hug and caressed his head, almost in a motherly way. The boy kept murmuring in his ear softly telling him to let it all out and with that the dam burst. Inari openly cried on the boy's shirt dampening it with his tears.

"You know Inari, you're lucky." said Naruto when the boy in front of him calmed down considerably "You are lucky that you have a family to come home to: A mother that would ease all of your woes, a grandfather that would look at you with love. I never felt those things as you have" at this statement Inari couldn't help but gape at Naruto. "From the moment that I cold remember I had no parents or a family. Everyone in my village hated me for something I couldn't control. I would've gone completely crazy if not for the fact that a few individuals saw me as me. It's because of these persons that I vowed to protect my village at the cost of my entire being. I vowed to them that I would protect those who are precious to me with my own hands and bring them to a brighter future.

Your father figure made this promise to himself to protect Wave Country even at the cost of his life. He would've wanted you to be brave to protect the home in which you are accustomed to, with your own hands. It would probably dishonor his memory if you kept hiding and shed tears for him."

"I know…but how? I- I-I'm scared." The little boy sobbed.

"So are your mother and grandfather." Replied Naruto earning him a confused stare from the little boy that somehow was able to climb onto his legs "Your grandfather risks his life everyday the moment he decided to complete the bridge. You're mother is also at risk for supporting him in his endeavor. Both of them are scared, but their love for their home suppresses that fear and makes them risk everything for the betterment of all Wave Country."

Light shone in Inari's eyes as the news dawned to him. He had been running away. Well, not anymore! He will support his grandpa no questions asked.

That night during dinner, Inari apologized to everyone on what he had said earlier and told his mom that he will support his grandpa's project, much to the joy of his relations.

**Next Day **

"Ok people let's start with training. Today you will all climb trees." Kakashi jovially announced as he limped toward a tree with his crutches

"I think Zabuza hit your head too hard sensei." said Sakura to her deranged (for her) teacher when she heard the statement. '_**Chaaaa are you trying to get us killed?'**_

"Nope. This is a training method to raise your chakra stores."

Limping over to the tree the jounin took a step on the trunk then raised his other foot an soon enough he was walking vertically up the tree and ended the demonstration looking down at them in his upside down position on the underside of a branch.

Kakashi was thrilled as well as annoyed. Thrilled because the prodigy and the fangirl were totally in awe (Sasuke though only a little bit) and annoyed when Naruto just shrugged. Kakashi then threw three kunai at their feet and told them to use those to mark their progress.

Almost immediately Sasuke made a run up to the tree making five steps before launching off the tree after quickly marking his progress on the tree bark. It was then that Kakashi noticed that his blonde enigma scowled darkly at the Uchiha only to get darker at every mark the avenger made to the tree bark.

Sakura was the first to finish the task, much to the Uchiha's ire, when she noticed from her vantage point that Naruto didn't even start the exercise.

"Oy! Naruto-baka do the exercise already you loser. Kakashi sensei Naruto isn't doing his job." she tattled only to be gobsmacked when the said boy simply _walked_ towards her and continued to walk past her before calmly turning and walked back down to earth.

Sasuke's blood began to boil. The newbie was better than him, him, the Uchiha. He was supposed to be number one in everything, yet time and again his teammate is surpassing him.

Kakashi's visible eye widened at the sight. 'the kid has very good chakra control.' It was noly then that he noticed that Naruto was sauntering over to him and stood next to the Cyclops and gave him a dark look.

"Dryad doesn't like the way Sasuke and Sakura are marking the trees, coincidentally I don't like it either. If you see yourself being attacked by the trees on the way back home I will not stop it. She has a mighty temper when angered." He told the jounin as he walked away from the group.

"Where're you going?"

"To the ocean. The spirits are restless."

Naruto walked until he reached the shoreline and there he saw his eight friends congregating.

"What's wrong? Do you need anything of me?" he asked them noticing their grim dispositions

"Yes, Naruto, we have good news and bad news for you." said Gnome standing on the sand

"This place has a lot of mana energy to feed the seed" continued Wisp as she floated around them.

"But Thanatos has corrupted this place making those who had succumbed to it its minions" said Shade

"I understand. But could you tell me something? It has been bothering me for quite some time now. The two Zabuza and that hunter nin we encountered. Both of them did not feel infected by Thanatos."

"Both are protected by mana. It zeems that zey have anuther duty. I know Zabuza vell as vell as his apprentice. Both of zem are under mine power. Zey are rare. Mana children zat zey are." Said Undine on the water's surface

"I don't want to battle them if Gatou is the only problem between us" said Naruto resolutely

"Don't vorry they can still hear me. I will tell zem to meet up with you" Undine told him before diving back under the depths.

"We'll tell you when to expect them." said Salamander as he disappeared with everyone. With the meeting over Naruto walked back to Tazuna's home.

It was already late when he returned much to the relief etched on everyone's face when he entered the room. Tsunami saved him some dumplings from the dinner earlier that day which he thanked her for and ate. Afterwards he went straight to bed.

**3 days later **

Two more days before Zabuza encounters them again and Kakashi though proud of his students' achievements couldn't help but be worried for the blonde boy. For three days Naruto went with Tazuna on the bridge and would keep close to the family rather that stay with his team. The others said that he's a slacker while they do all the work but Kakashi wouldn't hear of it.

That night as soon as everyone was asleep Naruto snuck out of the house and ran into the surrounding mist. The moment he left Kakashi followed him. The jounin followed him until they reached the shoreline only to stop at his tracks at what he saw. There only a few meters away from his student was Zabuza and supporting him was a feminine looking boy.

He went closer to the group and hid behind a pile of driftwood to a.) listen on the conversation and b.) to rescue his student when needed. Of course, like all of Kakashi's best laid up plans usually if not always go up in smoke. As he watched the conversation he didn't notice the puddle of water behind him form into an ice mirror and before he knew it two arms had grabbed him and pulled him backwards. As soon as he landed on solid sand he was surrounded by Zabuza, the feminine boy and lastly Naruto.

"Sensei, so glad of you to join or discussion." said Naruto with a hint of exasperation in his voice

"Let me guess…this happened before?" asked the missing nin humor lacing his question

"Yes. Unfortunately, it was when I was bathing"

At the answer Kakashi felt killer intent rise off the two missing nins one of them hissing the word 'pervert'.

"Let's put that aside for now. What in the world are you doing meeting these two?" Kakashi said as he stood up and grabbed the boy by the shoulders and pointing at the other two in emphasis

"Gatou plans to betray them Kakashi. They wish to join Leaf. We were about to plan how we go about Gatou's demise when you popped up."

Kakashi blushed bright red. He had mistakenly thought that his student had gone awol on him at the drop of the hat so he promised to keep quiet about it. After the meeting ended, both student and teacher walked back to Tazuna's house, fireflies lighting their way in the dark road. When they reached the front door of the house Naruto's eyes widened at a revelation that he had just realized.

"Sensei, what do we do with Uchiha and Haruno?"

"We'll figure it out once we cross that bridge."

And with that agreement the duo went to bed thinking of ways and how the outcome will change against Gatou.

**2 Days later at the bridge**

It was D-day. Sasuke and Sakura along with Kakashi was supposed to guard Tazuna today and was surprised when the usually present blonde was no where to be seen. When asked about it Kakashi had told them that he assigned the blonde to guard Tsunami and Inari at home. As the Konoha nins approach the bridge a thick blanket of mist surrounded them and even though visibility was low they could spot the enemy. There, opposite them was Zabuza and with him the hunter nin.

"Kakashi today we settle our dispute."

"Aa."

"Haku, take care of the boys, the girl is a disgrace to all kunoichi kind." This comment made Sakura angry but she can't do anything about it as she was stuck guarding Tazuna. The hunter nin disappeared in the fog and reappeared behind Sasuke who blocked the hail of senbons coming at him.

"You're trembling. Are you afraid for your life?" asked Haku

"No, I'm shaking because I'm excited" Sasuke smirked as he attacked Haku with the famed Uchiha taijutsu style, eyes widening as his opponent countered every punch and kick he made. Finally, he was able to grab hold of one of his opponent's arms

"Uchiha-san, you made two mistakes in this battle."

"Oh yeah, what's that?"

"one, there is water all around us and two," with one hand he made hand signs to the prodigy's shock that formed thousands of senbon needled that hovered overhead the pair "**HiJutsu: Sensatsu Suisho**"

By droves the senbons attacked and pierced Sasuke relentlessly.

As the battle ensued no one noticed a pale pink mist covering the area and almost immediately Sakura, Tazuna, and Sasuke were beginning to lose consciousness. The moment the three lost consciousness all fighters rested easy.

"What have we here? I see that you decided to team up with these people." said a slimy sounding voice.

"Well, they did offer me a better deal than you ever did, shorty." Taunted Zabuza.

Gatou's face went red with anger and he snapped his fingers to initiate his attack only to find that the thousands of thugs that he bought along with him had turned into human ice sculptures and in masses had exploded which in turned made Gatou into lumpy and chunky spaghetti sauce.

"Wow…this is so …anticlimactic." Kakashi deadpanned at the mess.

"Forgive me but I don't like beating around the bush." Said an unseen voice and all of the sudden the puddles of water around them moved to the edge of the bridge and took the silhouette of a familiar blonde boy with the crystal on his forehead shining a bright blue.

And so there it was, the mission was a success and the country of Wave was finally freed from Gatou's tyranny. Of course, Sakura, Sasuke and Tazuna were told of the agreement when they woke up from their initial nap and Tazuna forgave the two former enemy nins. Sakura, though confused was happy that everything ended happily except for the fact that the moment the entire group will arrive at Konoha's gates Zabuza will train her to the ground with Haku's help and Kakashi's permission. Sasuke was pissed however when the blonde newbie outshone him again only to realize to his pure and utter joy that he had activated his Sharingan at long last. He let this slide for now. Next time he will show up his teammate, no rival that he was an uchiha, the cream of the crop and nobody will upstage him and it was only a matter of time before he could kill HIM.

Author's note: let me explain some things that may confuse the people who read this and let me make it clear to everyone. Yes, there will be a pairing but the thing is its NOT. I plan for it to be YAOI. Sorry if these would sicken you. The pairings I have thought up are either **a.) KakaNaru**; **b.) SasuNaru**; or **c.) ItaNaru**.

Pls. note that the spirits including Kyuubi cannot be seen by the populace since they choose people who they want to see them and if said person has at least an affinity with a certain element or is a close candidate for being a Mana Chosen.

Please rate and rant about it...


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I am not profiting from this. For entertainment purposes only.

Chapter 9: Sand Spirit Gaara Promotions

A week had passed since the group returned to Konoha and everyone was surprised at the apparently new additions to the village in the forms of Momochi Zabuza and his newly adopted son Momochi Haku (yes he adopted Haku in my story now to continue). Much to the Sandaime's shock at the report of the C-rank turning A –rank mission he nonetheless accepted the Zabuzas' allegiance to the Leaf. Even though both he and his son are under probation at the minimum of at least three months, they were given the titles of Leaf Jounin and Medic chunin respectively. Just like he had promised Sakura back at Wave they began to train her rigorously much to Everyone's enjoyment and her ire. Let's not forget the fact that upon entry to his home Kakashi was indeed attacked by the surrounding trees around his home and was sent to the hospital a few hours later for thousands of splinters upon his person.

At the question to their lodgings Naruto invited them both to stay with him since upon his return he decided to live in his parents' house.

That very same week another spirit conference had been held and Naruto met them at the forests near the back of Konoha where the rivers were located. Just as soon as the meeting started the bushes behind Naruto rustled and made the spirits hide. The person that invaded upon inspection had red hair, pale skin, raccoon like markings around his eyes and a gourd on his back. Almost immediately Naruto and Kyuubi sensed a Great Spirit within the boy.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" Naruto asked the visitor.

"I am Sabaku no Gaara" the boy said in a morose monotone

"Good day to you Gaara, the spirits tell me you are not from Konoha but from Sand Village in the land of Winds, am I correct?"

"Yes. Tell me why do you not fear me?"

"You and I are the same. Hated, Despised because of something both of us cannot control. Even though my village gives me respect now, I still fear them at some point."

"Your name?"

"Naruto, Namikaze Naruto."

"Strange. I feel at ease around you. Why is this so?"

"You and I are kindred souls. You possess within you one of the nine Great Spirits, Shukaku of the sand and because of the corruption of Thanatos it doesn't let you rest."

At this proclamations Naruto got closer to Gaara and cupped the teen's face with his hands and let their foreheads touch. This action surprised Gaara as his shield of sand did not react at all.

"Do not fear me. I can help you, Gaara. Trust me"

**Gaara's Mind**

At the redhead's nod both found themselves within a sandstorm and in the middle of this was the Great Spirit shackled in chains with the words 'SEAL'. Both got nearer to the Spirit and it turned its head at them with pure madness, the aura of Thanatos coming out of it in waves.

"Gaara, I will get rid of the aura from this poor creature, please stand back" heeding the blonde's plea he did so and watched in trepidation.

Naruto's body began to glow from red to blue to green to blueish green to brown to pale yellow, white and black continuously. Suddenly the various auras exploded and began to fly in different directions towards the Spirit until the entire scene in front of them shone with blinding light. Though both boys cannot see they heard a distinct sound of glass breaking before the blinding light gradually faded.

Gaara opened his eyes and was in shock. There in front of him was a beautiful oasis surrounded by exotic flowers. At the center of this oasis was Shukaku. It no longer looked as it was and it turned to him and bowed.

"_**Thank you Very much. That Aura it was sickening to say the least. I am deeply sorry for keeping you awake all these years Gaara. The spirit of Thanatos is pure evil. It planned to devour your soul in your sleep had I not intervened and in the process corrupted myself. Again, I am sorry. In return for this immense favor I will do as you ask as long as it is in my power to do so."**_

"Shukaku, Gaara is a chosen child. He will need a spirit guide. Let him keep control of the sands with your help and please let him sleep."

"_**That, I can do."**_ The sand raccoon smiled its lopsided grin and the oasis had once again covered with a blinding light.

**Real World**

When the boys opened their eyes they were back in the real world. Floating near Gaara's head materialized a sand colored Tanuki with a tail twice its own size. It opened its huge amber eyes and yawned cutely before floated down into Gaara's open arms and slept. Blinking confusedly at the raccoon in his arms, Gaara suddenly felt a wave of sleep come over him. In no less than half a second he too ended up in the land of sleep. After depositing Gaara's unconscious self to the inn much to the shock and deep seated thanks of Gaara's siblings at the sight of a Gaara sleeping so peacefully, Naruto retreated back to his house for some much well deserved rest.

The next day as Naruto walked to the training grounds he found himself being followed by a…square rock. 'Konohamaru' he mentally sighed. He turned around and pressed the ridge of his nose

"Konohamaru, I had told you millions of times that a rock is not square"

The box exploded in a sea of smoke revealing three children coughing and sputtering about too much gunpowder. As soon as the smoke dissipated Naruto was witness to three seven year olds in 'heroic' poses

"I'm Moegi, the cutest and sexiest Kunoichi in pre-school!"

"I enjoy playing Go! My name is Udon!"

"And I'm the future Hokage of the village! My name is…Konohamaru!"

"And we are…The Konohamaru Ninja Corps!" The three seven-year-olds chorused.

"Good day to all three of you." Said a nonplussed Naruto

"Sugoi! My eternal rival is soooo cool!" cried Konohamaru as he and his friends circled the genin and made a dance of sorts with a song about their Boss' greatness.

How did these three kids knew Naruto? It started when Naruto was visiting the Sandaime when Konohamaru, the sandaime's grandson came to challenge his grandfather simultaneously tripped over his own scarf and blamed Naruto for the huge bump on his head. The jewel on Naruto's head shone a white light as the teen kneeled in front of the boy and patted him on the head and healed the bump. The kid was so awed by the spectacle that he even defended Naruto from Ebisu, Konohamaru's jounin tutor. Since that fateful meeting Konohamaru began too call Naruto his boss, his leader.

"Ne, Naruto-niisan will you play ninja with us? Pretty please?" pleaded all three making their ultimate Puppy-pout no Jutsu ultimately making the genin crumble and agree to the sheer adorableness of the scene.

This was the sight that Sakura caught sight of. Sakura though changed under Zabuza and Haku's regimen was still comparatively weak. The only plus side to this was that she FINALLY found her calling in the profession of being a medic nin as she soaked upon medic nin books like a veritable sponge.

"A ninja playing ninja? I think you have finally lost it Naruto."

"Even play is training in the world of nature Sakura. Our playing ninja has a purpose in their development to be true warriors."

A few minutes later both genin bid goodbye to the trio and headed towards their usual training grounds where Sasuke stood waiting for their tardy teacher. An hour later Naruto, who was sitting in the tree, leapt off the branch he was on and as if by cue Kakashi poofed into the scene.

"Sorry I'm late. I had to fight the trees around my home yesterday and I had been discharged just a few minutes ago in the hospital because of the extensive splinters I obtained on my ass."

"LIAR!" cried Sakura only to hear a bell like laughter coming from her blonde teammate.

"I told you Dryad would get even with you Kakashi sensei" the blonde giggled

"Hmmm, well anyway I am here to promote you kids to the Chunnin Exams that will be held tomorrow at the academy at 4:00 pm at room 301. Here are the forms and good luck." and as quick as he came he poofed out of there.

The three genin were excited to prove t themselves that they are worthy for the title of Chunnin. The Chunnin Exam is about to begin.

Author's Note: thank you for the pairing and its official: KAKANARU and to those who are faint of heart there are NO EXPLICIT SCENES **just plain cuteness **(I DON'T KNOW HOW TO WRITE EXPLICIT YAOI SCENES YET). The yaoi is just Kakashi acquiring a little crush. Why not make Kakashi gain a crush from his late hormones since he never experienced this as a teen. Of course I may change my mind. Thank you again for the great reviews.

Please rate and rant about it...


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I am not profiting from this. For entertainment purposes only.

Chapter 10: Chunnin exams part 1

The next day team 7 met at the academy and headed straight for the third floor and just as they were about to go up the last flight of steps they encountered a large group of people and in front of them were two people blocking a door that read ROOM301.

The three were ready for this. Sasuke, though looking unchanged had indeed improved on his speed and his chakra stores were at the most low chunnin. Sakura who now wears a new style: black biker shorts covered by a simple khaki colored skirt with slits at the side and her top was a fishnet shirt covered by a gray hakama style top. The one thing that had absolutely changed about her physical appearance was her hair. The once long hair was cut straight that reached up to her neckline (think Kagero's hairstyle, Recca's mother in Recca no Honou) with her forehead protector tied over her forehead. In kunoichi standards she was now at least up to par with Haku on medic nin techniques. Naruto however, was still a mystery to them both. This air of mystery around the boy made Sakura curious while it irked Sasuke to no end. The other two looked at Naruto in his usual outfit with his hair tied in a very thin braid that reached his back though it was not seen because of the turtleneck covering the lower part of his face.

Sasuke seeing it as a simple genjutsu wanted to show off his prowess but was stopped by his blonde teammate. When asked for the reason, the boy simply muttered "The fewer candidates the better."

They didn't say anything and were about to leave when something caught their eye. It was a kid wearing a bright green leotard body suit, orange leg warmers, big round eyes, a bowl cut hairstyle and…caterpillars or so they seem, eyebrows. The three shuddered together unconsciously.

They were about to escape the horrid sight when the boy caught sight of them, or rather caught sight of Sakura.

"You are such a youthful flower! Will you be by Girlfriend!" the boy all but screamed at her only to stop as he stared at Naruto, and undoubtedly blushed.

"SUCH A BEAUTIFUL SPECIMEN OF YOUTH!" The boy yelled "MY NAME IS ROCK LEE PLEASE IT WOULD HONOR ME FOR YOU TO BE MY GIRLFRIEND!"

He didn't anticipate though the tick forming on Naruto's head. _A girl? He thought I was a girl?_ And with that Naruto got a bat from seemingly out of nowhere and hit the strange boy with it enabling said boy to roll backwards into the crowd like a bowling ball. As soon as he crashed into the busy crowd most if not all of them were knocked out. At the sight of Lee's teammates Naruto dragged both of his teammates up to the third floor. Both kept quiet knowing full well that an angry Naruto CAN indeed shorten one's lifestyle.

This was the sight Kakashi saw when the three arrived. Sasuke indifferent yet nervous, Sakura simply nervous and Naruto, ticked off and leaking so much killing intent that it was choking.

It was good thing the intent stopped after a second to the relief of the other three around him.

"Congratulations, you all came together. The chunnin exam is a very important exam and must be completed by a team of three genins. If only two of you showed up then I will be forced to turn the others down. Anyway it's high time that you kids mosey on into the room. And wait for the proctor for the exam."

And with that the three went in and upon entry many people looked at them with a scowl on their faces. The three just looked on when a purple and blonde blur glomped Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun, I missed you soooooooooo much!" cried Ino as she clung on to her crush. She looked at Sakura to goad her on but was completely shocked at the change that her rival went through.

"Hey, Forehead what happened to you? Finally got caught by the fashion police I see?" teased Ino but was gobsmacked when said girl simply said "why? Jealous?"

Soon enough Kiba went in and began to gloat, much to the annoyance of nearly everyone in the room.

"You cute little genin better keep quiet or you'll be targeted by all the others for being noisy."

"And who're you?" asked Sakura at a boy with a silver haired boy with wire rimmed glasses

"I'm Kabuto. I'm what you would call your senior at this exam."

"Why how many times have you applied?" asked Ino

"Seven times including this one" he told them as he rubbed his neck in embarrassment

"Even if I did flunk I did collect info on people with my nin info cards. Anyone interested?" Kabuto said fishing out a deck of blank cards

"Do you have anything on that kid with the gourd, Rock Lee, and Namikaze Naruto?"

"Ah, so you know their names, well that makes it easier." Kabuto said taking three blank cards from the deck and imbued chakra into them "let's see, Sabaku no Gaara has 8 C-ranks and a B-rank." he whistled at that, stating that not many genin get B-rank missions "Since he's from Sunagakure, I've got next to no info on him," the bespectacled genin muttered, "other than that he returned from every mission unscathed." He looked at the Uchiha, holding his gaze carefully. "Without a scratch."

"Rock lee: A year older than you lot. Missions: 20 D-rank, 11 C-rank." He scanned the card carefully before nodding. " It seems his specialty is Taijutsu, only base ninjutsu at best. He's a first time contender. Team-mates: Hyuuga Neji and Tenten."

"Finally let's have Namikaze Naruto…well that's odd. He's got no info on techniques, history says he just disappeared from Konohagakure for six years and had just returned a few months ago. Sorry, no info on this guy except team missions."

Everyone was astounded. There was no known information on the blonde enigma. Just before Sasuke was able to corner the blonde poofing sounds came from the front of the room as the proctors led by a huge scarred man wearing a black leather jacket stood in front of them

"ALL RIGHT YOU MAGGOTS! SIT IN YOUR RESPECTIVE PLACES OR THERE'S HELL TO PAY!"

All the participants scrambled to their seats not wanting to piss off the irate looking jounin any further. Naruto looked at his teammates seated far away from each other. He was thinking on the past when a meek hello took him out of his musings. There seated next to him was Hinata Hyuuga, the spirit of Wisp is strong in her. A perfect medic so it seems.

After Morino Ibiki told them the ground rules of the paper test with a few setbacks from a contestant from another village, the paper exam began. It became apparent during the test that the questions in the test cannot be answered by a mere genin so the answer to that problem was simple: to cheat without being caught.

After thinking of ways to cheat, he then felt a light nudging at his unexposed neck. Then it hit him.

Kyuubi!

The spirit can help him cheat the test.

'Kyuubi, would you help me now?' he asked through their link

'**What would you want me to do, child?'**

'Could you please scout out the room and find the correct answers to this test for me?'

'**Of course, having a spirit Guardian does have its perks.'**

And with very little movement on Naruto's part kyuubi dislodged itself from its perch and began to scout the immediate area. He saw the people around him cheating as well. Uchiha was using his sharingan, same with contestants with the byakugan, some using hidden mirrors, Morse code and coincidentally even puppets and sand. The spirit laughed a bit when he saw Shukaku doing the exact thing as he was but using sand instead. He kept looking until he found someone to copy off of at the front of the class. As the random participant answered the questions the spirit read the answers and relayed it to Naruto through their link.

After answering the first nine questions Kyuubi returned to him and hid itself around his unexposed neck and went back to sleep.

A few minutes later the tenth question was announced as an all or nothing and to fail this, the penalty was the participants will be barred from becoming chunnin for good. Around six teams quit the exam at this point. Naruto then took a glimpse at his teammates. Sasuke looked sure enough to go through with the test but it wasn't the same with Sakura. She was about to raise her hand and he knew that they have to continue so he stood up making everyone look at him.

"So little man, had enough?" said the Tokubetsu Jounin

"No sir. I merely want to ask a question. How will it be that we willl be barred from becoming chunnin when by laws and statutes of the village only a village's Kage that can bar a genin from becoming a chunnin? Seeing as you are only a jounin you have no authority to do such a thing. Besides, even if you did have that authority I wouldn't give into your bullying. If I gave up on anything in my life I would never had become what I am now. What say you Mr. Proctor?"

Just as Ibiki surmised the tension in the room immediately dissipated as the crowd of participants, regained their resolve and all thoughts on quitting gone.

'The kid's like his old man. Like father like son, I suppose.' Ibiki inwardly smiled

"Now to all those who stayed…you all pass the first exam." Said Ibiki

After explaining the purpose of the test, the atmosphere within the room changed when a wrecking ball crashed into a window and on top of it was a woman with a beige trench coat over a very revealing fishnet shirt. Behind her was a banner with the words 'Second examiner the beautiful and most alluring, Mitarashi Anko'

"Hello brats! I'm Mitarashi Anko the second examiner of the chunnin exams!" and with that she begun to count the number of survivors.

"Ibiki, I think you lost your touch." She teased him

"Good candidates this year." He gruffly told her

"Never mind. I'll cut the number by half. Everyone follow me!"

All the participants followed her. Onwards to the Second Exam…

**Forest of Death: training ground 44**

All the contestants found themselves in front of a dense and lush forest. The thing that made this place look so eerie was the aura of dread and death surrounding it. Killing intent was abundant and some even shivered when tendrils of this intent crept up their spines.

"Welcome to training ground 44 which is also lovingly call as 'The Forest of Death'. This is where the second exam will be taking place. Ok maggots, I will give you all waiver forms. These waiver forms are to ensure that whatever happens during my test will not be liable to me or Konoha in any way possible because there WILL be deaths in this portion of the exam. After signing your waiver forms a team will get one of these scrolls" she said holding up a dark colored scroll and a light colored scroll "in exchange for the waiver forms. Each team will have to get both scrolls to the tower in the center of the forest for their team to pass. The limit of the test will be five days."

"F-five days! W-w-what about food?' asked Chouji

"There are plenty of things to eat in the forest." Anko cackled madly causing the big boned boy to sulk.

"What's so scary about a bunch of trees?" boasted a random shinobi

Anko however, was not so impressed with his smart mouth, only to find himself with a kunai nicking his cheek. Anko licked the blood off the startled genin's cheek and smirked.

"You noisy ones are always the first to go," she purred, "spilling all that delicious blood."

The teammate of the one in Anko's grasp was about to apologize when he felt something cold and wet touched his cheek. He turned his head slightly, only to let out a decidedly un-masculine shriek as a massive tongue returned the woman's kunai to her, shivering at the sight of the grass nin's massive tongue as it retreated back into the nin's head.

As soon as all the contestants got their waiver forms Sasuke dragged Naruto and Sakura away to discuss something that had been bothering him for some time.

"Naruto before we get on with this test something has been nagging in my brain about you. Tell me who gave you all this power? I felt something overcome me during that bridge fight. I have the strangest inkling that it was your doing. Tell me! I need this power to kill my brother, to avenge my clan!" he told the blonde grasping the others shoulders tightly in desperation.

"Sasuke, the ones that showed me and gave me all that I have now are dead. They saved me from the destruction of my second home. All I have now are the Spirits around us and they do not teach their art upon request." He told Sasuke

"You're just saying that because you don't want to give me power as I am destined to have."

"No Sasuke. Power is earned not destined to a person. Even though the Spirits chose me among millions of children I had to work hard in order to be worthy of the choice they gave me. And this power also has a downside. You may not understand, but the moment my true duty is finished then my existence as Naruto will be erased."

"True purpose?"

"My former mentor gave me a responsibility one of which I will willingly give my life to complete" he told them taking out the Mana Seed that glowed faintly in his palm "This Seed is the true purpose I came back to Konoha. My mentor told me that this Seed is needed to balance the world from the spirit of Evil called Thanatos. If I fail my mission, Thanatos will take over and all life will be gone. Do you still want this responsibility on your shoulders?"

Sasuke then told Naruto all about the Uchiha Massacre thinking that if he told him that story then he will give him power do do as he wished only to get the complete opposite.

"Sasuke did you ever think of the reason why your brother did what he did to your clan and why he spared you and you alone? If your brother was indeed insane as you claim then the logical thing that he would do was to kill you that night as well so that there will be no witnesses to his crime. Perhaps there was an ulterior motive in his actions."

Somehow the last sentence struck a chord within Sasuke. His blonde companion was right. If Itachi did commit the massacre why in the world would he spare even him from death? The man had no qualms about killing his own parents but why did he spare him from the same fate? Could there be a chance that his brother was framed?

Whilst Sasuke thought of this new development, Sakura pondered about what the blonde meant by not existing anymore but before she could voice out her opinions Naruto took their waiver forms and exchanged it for an earth scroll which he hid in his shirt.

As soon as the teams were led to their respective gates Anko's voice was heard over the P.A. system

"Now I will tell you all what deems as a legitimate elimination in this test: 1. you don't make it to the tower within 5 days; 2. one of your teammates dies; 3. the team doesn't have both scrolls in their possession; 4 the entire team dies and finally; 4. if a team opens their scroll within the forest."

"What happens if we do open the scrolls before entering the tower?" asked a random participant

"I can't tell you. You'll find out if you did. Now on your mark…Get set…Go!"

And with that everybody ran into the forest.

Team 7 ran nonstop in silence in hopes of finding an easy target to pilfer from when a huge gust of wind literally blew them off of their feet. Naruto used his wind affinity to break their fall and make them descend to the ground safely.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Sakura swore as she glared heavenward, just then an evil cackle sounded over the settling woods.

"Not bad," a raspy voice called out, "not bad at all." The dust cleared somewhat, revealing the androgynous kusa-nin from before, looking mildly impressed, arms crossed over his chest.

"I had expected you all to be separated." The Nin admitted, smiling as he held up an earth scroll mockingly, "I suppose you'd like to take this from me…ne?"

To the horror of the genin, the freak wrapped his tongue around the scroll and swallowed it, the neck bulging disgustingly as the scroll passed down his gullet, before he reached a hand to his eye.

"Well then…shall we?"

The Kusa-nin disappeared momentarily to the genin's confusion only to reappear again behind Naruto and wrapping his tongue around the teen's ankle and hung him upside down.

"You are going to be a thorn at my side, so better to get rid of the more costly barrier now rather than later…**Gogyofuuin**!" the kusa-nin chuckled ramming Naruto's stomach with a palm full of purple chakra.

Naruto screamed as the grass Nin rammed his fingers into his stomach, then discarding him into a nearby bush, the last thing the blonde remembered hearing were the voices of his teammates, calling out his name.

Now with the obvious nuisance out of the way the Kusa nin was about to attack the remaining others when he glimpsed a green flash in his peripheral vision.

"Hey, Snake face, that hurt. Let me return the favor!"

What the nin didn't expect was the branches and the trees surrounding them began to attack him. As the kusa-nin evaded the sharp branches in front of him he didn't notice the branches at his side only to be hit hard by said branches causing the nin to regurgitate the formerly swallowed scroll onto the forest floor. The Kusa-nin retreated unable to get close to his target and frowned. His line of sight wasn't at the distraught team but at the blonde that he finished earlier with hand on a tree the jewel on his forehead glowing green as well as the hand touching the tree.

'Who is this brat?' He cursed inwardly as he took peeled off his face revealing a very pale man with slitted golden eyes and long black hair.

"I am Orochimaru," he rasped out, "the giant snake." He leered at team 7 in a predatory fashion, an unholy light in those golden orbs. And with that said, the traitorous sennin walked backwards into a tree, and disappeared from their senses.

As soon as said sennin was away Naruto slumped forward only to be caught by Sasuke with Sakura right next to him, but before she could examine Naruto's condition a vine crept up to them and in its tendril was the scroll dropped by the kusa-nin. The vine crept up to Naruto and handed them the scroll.

The team had to stay in the forest that night not wanting to get lost as the light was lost to them. Sakura and Sasuke took care of setting up camp while Naruto rested. Later in the evening as the other two stood guard Naruto woke up and eyed the other two. They were both exhausted, their chakra diminishing under the conditions. He walked up to them and sat near them and surprised both.

"Naruto, how are you feeling? Are you hurt?" asked Sakura sounding more tired by the second

"I'm fine Sakura but what about you two?" he asked seeing the other two about to nod off

Chuckling to himself he stood up and grabbed both their hands and walked to the clearing near their camp. The moonlight in the clearing cast its rays on the team and much to the other two's surprise Naruto began to glow and so did they. A few minutes later all three were energized and went back to camp.

"What was that?" asked Sasuke

"Remember the Wave mission when I volunteered to take the night shift and didn't wake you two?" both nodded at this. "this was the reason. Moonlight replenishes my energy and anyone else I touch. All previous wounds will disappear as if nothing had happened. This is also the main reason I don't need to eat as much."

Both were astounded at what they heard. This way of living would indeed be beneficial to a ninja but still another thing bothered them as well.

"Naruto, what's up with the jewel on your head?" asked Sakura as she ogled at the jewel on her teammate's forehead

"This regulates my eight elemental affinities: Red for Fire; White for Healing or Light; Brown for Earth; Purple for Darkness or Poison; Blue Green for Air; Pale Yellow for Moonlight; Blue for Water and Ice; and finally Green for Plants."

"Plants? Do you mean Mokuton Jutsu? You have an affinity with Trees?" exclaimed Sakura

"Yes and no. I do not have Mokuton in my veins, but i've been trained to use plants by my loved ones. That's also the reason why we haven't been attacked by man eating animals yet in this exam. The Forest itself is keeping them at bay. The Forest will also protect this conversation from eavesdroppers and spies."

"Wait, you mean there's more?"

"Yes. I will tell you everything, the reason I disappeared, where I had been, my teachers. No more secrets." Said Naruto with determination making the other two lean forward a bit more as if telling him 'tell us more, tell us more.'

And with that Naruto told them his entire story. After the entire tale the three grew quiet at the revelation but Sasuke asked him a question that lightened up his world most of all.

"Why are you telling us all of this? Why do you trust us with this kind of information?"

"I had never trusted more than a handful of people with my secret. I want to get over my fear of people in general. I hope that my trust in you will not be in vain." He said as he stood up and left the two alone to contemplate.

The next morning team 7 rushed towards the tower with renewed vigor as yesterday's initial recharging kept them fired up and raring to go. When the three reached the tower they opened both scrolls and out came Iruka congratulating them and told them the purpose of the entire test. They were told to stay in the tower to rest up since they had an extra 3 days left.

As the three went up to their respective rooms Sasuke and Sakura halted Naruto in his tracks and told him something that definitely made his days worthwhile.

"Your secret is ours to keep; our secret is yours to keep. This team's secrets is ours and ours alone."

It was then that Naruto felt that the Thanatos Spirit in Sasuke's heart slowly but surely ebbed away into nothing.

**Training ground 44 Tower Arena**

"Welcome and congratulations on passing the second exam," Anko said, and stepped back as Sandaime prepared to speak. All of the Genins turned to face the aged Hokage.

"Let me explain to you the true purpose of this test," Sandaime said.

"True purpose," Kiba asked. Sandaime nodded and continued, "This exam, the Chuunin exam, is to show of a village's power to potential customers. If a village shows it has lots of talented and strong ninjas, then missions will increase for that village. Also, instead of killing each other, the ninja villages compete under these exams, keeping relations and allies, as well as showing off their power to enemies, keeping them from attacking. Likewise if a village's representatives, the Genins in this exam, show that it is weaker, missions will decrease and the threat of invasion is greater. Therefore it is very important that you take these exams very seriously.

"The next stage will be one on one fighting where daimyos and other important people will come to see you fight. The selection on who becomes Chuunin is made by several judges among those important people."

A Special Jounin then jumped in front of Sandaime, kneeling in front of him.

"Sandaime-sama, allow me to explain," the Special Jounin named Gekko Hayate requested before Sarutobi nodded to him.

"As Sandaime-sama said, for the third exam (cough) there will be a lot of important people watching and the invitations are to be sent out. (cough) But since these important guests have limited time, we can't simply have many matches. (Cough) That is why we must have a preliminary now. But before we begin, can those that don't feel well and want to give up, raise their hands. As it is individual (cough) fighting from now on, your decision won't affect your team. (Cough) So, anyone wish to retire from the exam? We will begin fighting immediately, so you won't have time to rest. (Cough)," Hayate said and a murmur arose from the Genins.

"I give up," Kabuto said.

"You are Konoha's Yakushi Kabuto? Very well, you may leave," Hayate said and wrote something down on the clipboard he was carrying and with that Kabuto left.

A few other genins form other villages left until only the genins from Konoha, Sand & Sound were left.

The first fight: Sasuke v.s. Akado Yoroi Winner: Sasuke

Both fighters faced each other and once they got the go ahead from the referee they went into an all taijutsu match. After a few minutes Sasuke began to notice that every time his opponent would touch him to evade his attacks he felt that his chakra was diminishing faster than normal. Not wanting to prolong this any further Sasuke finished off his enemy by blasting him with a **Katon: Housenka no ****Jutsu**where the flames got caught in the guy's clothing and with his opponent flapping his arms around like a headless chicken the fire got stronger. Sasuke was declared the winner of the fight whilst Akado Yoroi was carried off on a stretcher with very minimal chance to survive due to the burns on his person.

Second Fight: Shikamaru vs. Tsuchi Kin: Winner: Shikamaru.

Kin used her bell genjutsu on him and she was winning after a while until she could no longer move because of his **Kage**** Mane no ****Jutsu**. She didn't notice the wall was behind her so when he bent backwards she did the same only to reintroduce her head to the wall knocking her out of commission.

Third Fight: Sakura vs. Ino: Winner: Tie no advancement.

Ino had caught Sakura in her **Shintenshin no ****Jutsu**but Sakura was able to get Ino's presence out of her mind and quickly punched Ino's gut her hand nveloped with chakra. Ino in defense gave Sakura an uppercut with chakra focused in her fist. Both went down and couldn't get back up.

Fourth Fight: Chouji vs. Kinuta Dosu: Winner: Dosu.

Dosu was equipped with a special speaker implanted into his wrist which served to amplify sound waves and dramatically strengthen his sound-based attacks. With his speaker, Dosu could use **Kyōmeisen** to damage Chouji's inner ear, throwing him off balance and making him nauseous after he tried using his **Nikudan Sensha** .

Fifth Fight: Kankuro vs. Tsurugi Misumi: winner: Kankuro. Misumi wrapped himself around Kankuro's body and broke the genin's neck only to be introduced with Karasu, Kankuro's puppet with Kankuro in the bandages that the doll carried using chakra strings to control said puppet. Kankuro was declared the winner as Misumi's bones were broken to a degree in the path of no return after being hugged to death by Karasu.

Sixth Fight: Lee vs. Gaara: Winner: Gaara.

The fight between them was very…anticlimactic. As soon as Lee was only an arm's length in front of Gaara the sand nin blew sand in Lee's eyes and before you could say raccoon lee was off in dreamland…standing up. (Sorry I can't help it. Kinda makes you wonder why no one ever thought of making Gaara have an attack similar to the sandman's duty.) Of course this strange attack caused a mass face fault from all shinobi present.

Seventh Fight: Shino v.s. Zaku: Winner:Shino

Shino won by a landslide by clogging up Zaku's arms with his kikaichu making the air in the enemy's arm implode. Thusly breaking his arms further and lessening the boy's chances at becoming a shinobi.

Eighth Fight: Naruto v.s. Kiba: Winner : Naruto

Everybody (yes, including Lee who just woke up) were excited. It was the first time they would see the blonde fight barring Team Seven. As the two fighters walked down to the arena they noticed Naruto's lack of speech while Kiba was full of it.

"This'll be easy, won't it Akamaru? We'll win this hands down! No skinny bare clad blondie boy's gonna kick us around!" boasted the inuzuka heir, his puppy companion barking in agreement.

As soon as the referee started the match Naruto phased out of sight. The worrying part for Kiba and Akamaru is that they couldn't smell him either. All of a sudden the entire population in the arena heard a song coming from all directions. It started soft until everyone can hear it properly. While to everyone nothing is going on down at the arena, it was a whole different story for Kiba and his puppy.

They found themselves in darkness. They can't smell nor see at all. The only thing that registered was the song reverberating throughout the darkness. The song then got louder and their environment changed. White blossoms with closed petals surrounded the two surrounding them with a pale ethereal light. Then they heard it, a pack of wolves howling behind them. They then turned and saw an awesome sight of a pack of wolves howling up to the pale moon whilst other pack members ran in a circle as if dancing. It was only then that they saw the white blossoms bloom. It was a lunar flower. Its scent overpowered both Kiba and Akamaru's senses neither noticed anything else.

To everyone else in the room Kiba just simply stopped moving before both man and his dog just left the arena with a dazed look in their eye disqualifying them from the match. It was then that Yuuhi Kurenai understood what had happened. Kiba was under a very powerful genjutsu that she will be hard pressed to break. The moment Kiba and Akamaru reached the balcony both lost their dazed looked which turned confused. And so the winner for the bout was Naruto.

Ninth fight: Hinatav.s. Neji: Winner: Neji

Neji overpowered the still under confident form of his cousin and managed to close her tenketsu as well as hit her near her heard costing her the match. It was only on the combined efforts of Haku and Naruto had taken Hinata out of danger.

Tenth Fight: Ten-Ten v.s. Temari: Winner: Temari Temari literally blew her opponent away as well as bent Ten-Ten's back in an unnatural angle after Ten-Ten's attack was disabled easily by the wind user.

And so the finals are set after one month of preparation and those who passed the prelims will fight in this order:

Match 1:Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto vs Hyuuga Neji

Match 2: Uchiha Sasuke vs Sabaku no Gaara

Match 3: Aburame Shino vs Sabaku no Kankuro

Match 4: Nara Shikamaru vs Sabaku no Temari

Match 5: Dosu Kinuta vs Match 4 winner

Pls. Rave and Rant about it…


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I am not profiting from this. For entertainment purposes only.

Chapter 13: Seed Hermit Toads

Since all the contestants of the Chunnin Exam finals were given a month to prepare, all had started on their training. Shikamaru was being trained by his dad,;Shino with his father; Neji trained alone, and Sasuke is being currently trained by Kakashi. It was during this time that Gaara and his siblings had told the Sandaime Hokage that Suna had allied with Sound in an upcoming invasion at the finals. With this news, all shinobi in Chunnin and Jounin rank had begun to prepare for the upcoming invasion.

It was during this time hat Naruto noticed that the Mana Seed had indeed grown. It's now a seedling growing in contact with his body. Vines now grew around his right calf and around his waist. Time grows short for him. It won't be long before his time in the mortal plain is over and he will disappear. In his place will be the Great Tree. Everything will be as it should be.

As he was thinking about his undeniable fate he found himself near the hot springs in Konoha and just like clockwork there as an inane giggling near the girl's side of the onsen. There peeping through a hole was a man with weird kabuki style clothing and long white hair. Now everyone knows that Naruto may be very reserved in attitude but there were three things that just draws the line and makes him lose his temper: 1.) Defacing of nature in any way shape and form; 2.) if he was called a girl and; 3.) Perverts.

A tick near his forehead began to form at the blatant perverseness of the man in front of him. Normally he wouldn't revert back to his previous loud attitude but this was necessary. He made himself invisible and sneaked behind said pervert and took in a big intake of air and screamed.

"PERVERT!" for added measure he also made a gust of wind that made the pervert fly right into the danger zone.

And in an instant the women on the other side screamed and began to pummel and beat the crap out of the said pervert in a melody of punches and flesh being tenderized as well as the screams of mercy from the old geezer that would probably make even Ibiki cringe.

After the carnage was done and the women left, Naruto dragged the man to a nearby clearing and waited for him to regain consciousness. The moment the man regained consciousness he decidedly hit Naruto on the head.

"Baka on gaki! What the hell did you do? My precious research is ruined!" the man yelleed

"Why in Spirits did you have to hit me for?" Naruto yelled back, the jewel on his forehead glowing bright red.

"You won't understand the beauty of my work, gaki! For I am" he then began this strange dance, "Mt. Myobokugama Sennin, The Kaeru (Frog, or Toad) Sennin! Jiraiya-sama!"

"Are you telling me you're a pervert and you're proud of this fact?" questioned Naruto at the Sannin's sanity

"I am not just any pervert…I am a Super Pervert and the author of the famous books Icha Icha Paradise!"

"…" '_that's the same book Kakashi carries around' _thought Naruto.

"Good day to you. I am Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto"

At hearing the name Jiraiya couldn't help but stare at the boy in front of him. The first time he laid eyes on the boy was on the day of the sealing and is awed that the boy in front of him.

"So, you're Minato's kid, eh. Howdy was your father's sensei when he was alive. So how was Konoha been since I had left?"

"I don't know. I hadn't been to Konoha for the last six years. I hadn't been here since I was six years old."

This news shocked Jiraiya. But before the sannin could voice out questions Naruto beat him to it and told him the story. It did irk Naruto however, when Jiraiya began asking about the body measurements of the Goddess with a perverted grin on his face which earned him a severe burn on his butt.

"Please refrain from dishonoring the memory of my mother figure in front of me…" hissed Naruto to the old pervert.

After calming the teen down (Naruto was holding a hatchet at this point) he began teaching the boy the art of summoning. Un/fortunately enough the boy was able to summon Gamabunta who liked the kid almost instantly, that and the fact that summon animals fall into the category of animal spirits second only to the Great Spirits, much to the Sannin's chagrin.

When Naruto told Jiraiya the extent of some of his abilities he was questioned on this.

"Oy Gaki, this method….can it be taught to other shinobi, preferably those who are around Jounin or ANBU rank?"

"It may be beneficial to shinobi, but as I've told Kakashi there is a certain limit in learning the spirit's way. If a person is too old then there is no chance in learning. Those who force the spirits will most likely never be able to use elemental, medical, illusionary justus ever again. Now if it were taught to academy students or even toddlers there's a small chance to use this knowledge, however, despite being called the Elemental nations, there is a limited amount of mana, especially in very populated areas such as this place since shinobi in general use the elements too much even in practices thus tiring the spirits. Now with the archery style I had been taught, the stealth could help but I doubt it would be accepted as people here like to be up close and personal when delivering the death blow."

Jiraiya mulled over this information. The kid made sense. There were more downsides than upsides as he also doubts it will be accepted by the shinobi populace. He sighed internally mourning the lost goldmine of new opportunities the kid had been bestowed with.

Another shock for Jiraiya was when the teen told him about Orochimaru's attack and the seal on his stomache. The sannin tried to undo the process only to find that the method didn't work on the teen because Kyuubi doesn't reside within the boy. This news of course caused a conniption fit with the man but was toned down considerably when the aforementioned fox got out of its hidey hole and smacked Jiraiya on the head with its tail. After the 'what the fuck?' stage Jiraiya went on he was also told the reason why Kyuubi attacked in the first place which of course the sannin vowed to make his old teammate pay for this crime.

With that in mind he began to teach Naruto knowing that the brat will indeed need. This process of continuous training and trips to memory lane continued until the month ended. Finally, the long wait was over. Its time for the finals of the Chunnin Exams.

**Chunnin exam Finals Arena**

The tension in the air was thick as the scores of both civilian and shinobi alike wait with bated breaths for the start of the tournament. There was no empty seat at all in the stadium. Everyone wanted to watch the matches that would take place, but some of them only came to watch the fight between Gaara and Sasuke, while others wanted to see Naruto and Neji in action.

Almost all the contestants were already there with the exception of Sasuke and Dosu Kinuta of Sound. Without wanting to wait another moment longer the proctor of the exam called all the participants present onto the stadium. The proctor for this part of the exam was Shiranui Genma, another Special Jounin who had volunteered in substituting for Hayate who was attacked by a mystery assailant earlier during the month causing the man to be confined within the hospital hoping to gain full recovery very soon. Kakashi wasn't present either, most likely making last minute preparations with Sasuke.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome all to the finals of this years Chunnin Exam. Here are the fights that will be held today: the first match will be between Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji; the second match will be between Uchiha Sasuke and Sabaku no Gaara; Match 3 will be between Aburame Shino and Sabaku no Kankuro; Match 4 is between Nara Shikamaru and Sabaku no Temari. Dosu Kinuta, much to the regret of Sound Country, was killed by an unknown assailant while training during the last month and is automatically disqualified from the Exams." Announced Genma

"Will all other contestants aside from Kazama Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji go to the waiting room so we could start the match?"

As the other fighters left the arena, the two combatants each had something up their sleeves. Everyone was certain that this battle will indeed be interesting to watch. Up on the spectators stands betting pools were wagered with the majority of the stadium betting on the Hyuuga's victory while Hinata, who shocked all that knew her, as well as a nondescript toad Sannin bet on Naruto to win which they have no doubt in their minds he would. The kages at the kage booth also joined the betting where the Kazekage voted on the Hyuuga to win whilst Sandaime bet on the latter.

"You know you have no chance of beating me. Fate decrees for my victory." said Neji as he stood in the jyuken stance.

"I don't believe in fate for the Goddess and the spirits watch over me. A person can defy fate and so can you." Said Naruto and the jewel on his head turned purple.

Neji began a barrage of attacks, his byakugan flaring. Naruto, however, was not moving at all. Everyone was expecting that the young Hyuuga to make his opponent into a pancake or at least minced meat when Naruto let out a blackish purple smoke from his mouth. The smoke covered both the contestants and the stadium. When the smoke died down they were all astonished to find Neji writhing on the ground, his hands covering his eyes. The sight that horrified the Hyuugas present saw the moment Neji tried opening his eyes only to find that he can't see. The entirety of his eyes was as black as the abyss. As Neji struggled on the ground Naruto slowly walks toward the young Hyuuga and takes off his opponent's forehead protector showing the Caged Bird Seal. The jewel on his forehead began to glow again, this time a bright white color. With two fingers he touches the seal and slowly it dissipated into nothing leaving in its wake a clear and unblemished forehead.

"Proctor-san, his sight will return to him in five minutes. He cannot fight any longer" Naruto announced and with that he won the match. As soon as the medics accompanied Neji, the blonde whispered to the young Hyuuga's ear

"Your cage is gone. Be a free bird and defy fate as long as you wish".

Up on the stands three people got a whole lot richer as they raked in their winnings.

The next match was between Sasuke and Gaara, this of course was moved to the last match which meant that Shikamaru was up next. Which he lost to Temari out of forfeiture or laziness…no one will ever know.

The next fight was fought between Shino and Kankuro. Both fought their level best but in the end Shino won as he drained Kankuo of chakra making his puppets useless.

It was finally time for the last match. Only one problem: Sasuke isn't here yet!

Naruto began counting one to ten as his temper began to rise at the blatant tardiness of his cycloptic sensei. When the proctor was about to disqualify said Uchiha a bunch of leaves began to swirl in the center of the arena and out came Sasuke and Kakashi.

"ano…are we late?" asked the Jounin only to be rewarded by a boot to the head, courtesy of his irate blonde genin.

"I swear Kakashi-sensei I think you would probably be late to your own funeral if you kept this up" said Naruto as he dragged Kakashi by the foot none to gently up to the spectators seats, Kakashi slightly unconscious. Everyone in the arena that saw the tirade sweat dropped at the sight.

As soon as everyone recovered from the odd spectacle the match between Sasuke and Gaara ensued (like the Canon version without Sasuke angst)

All of a sudden…

**BOOOOOOMMMMM!**

The invasion has begun

Someone had performed a Genjutsu that began to put everyone to sleep. Soon after the explosions, several ninja with a majority of Oto hitates jumped from the crowd and started to attack any Konoha shinobi they could see.

While this was happening, the Hokage stood up from his chair and took his fighting stance. The Kazekage stood as well and dropped back into a guarded stance.

"I am wondering what you plan to do, Orochimaru?" the Hokage asked.

Orochimaru ripped of the Kazekage robes and laughed,

"Kukukuku, so you knew it was me, Sarutobi-sensei? How did you know it was me?"

"A Sensei would and could always feel when their students are nearby." Said Sarutobi in a serious tone.

"Well, it looks like help is on the way for you" the said looking at the Anbu coming closer to their location "let's kick this up a notch." He said signaling his sound four who in turn began to make complicated hand signs and raised a sickly purple barrier on the roof where the powerhouses were trapping them both.

Else where in the village Konoha was, to many of the invader's surprise, deserted. "Where is everyone?" an Oto-nin asked.

His answer was a giant hand smashing him into the wall. The other Oto-nins around them saw as a giant shinobi toward over them. "It feels good to be part of the InoShikaCho team once again," the giant said.

"You said it Chomaru," a scared brown haired man said. He made a seal and his shadow stretched out to another Oto-nin then hands of shadow came up and broke the enemies' neck.

"That is sooo true, Shikato," Inoichi, a blonde haired man. He performed some hand seals and an Oto-nin attacked his teammate while the teammate wondered what happened.

Not far away five Oto shinobi were being chased by a pack of dogs, "Come let's show them what happens were the Inuzuka clan of Konoha can do!" a feral looking woman called.

"Yes Okasan!" another feral, yet younger, looking woman said, as she directed two of the dogs to their enemies.

In another part of the village carnage ensued as Gaara made a massacre of his enemies, all of them crushed to death by thousands of pounds of sand. Near this place was a surprising thing. All enemy shinobi were on the floor screaming bloody murder as if in great pain. In the middle of this was Konoha's Blonde enigma his forehead flashing a myriad of colors. Sasuke burned his enemies alive; Sakura began nailing senbon after senbon needle into her enemies. Haku and Zabuza began killing an immeasurable amount of enemies utilizing their favorite silent killing technique.

Near the main gates a giant three-headed snake was slowly making its way to the town. Several shinobi were seen fighting it but nothing they were doing was having any affect. When it was just entering the village proper a shout, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" and a giant toad dropped from the sky and crushed the snake. When the shinobi looked to where the voice originated from they saw Jiraiya. Scenes such as these repeated themselves all over Konoha as the invading force was pushed back. Soon it became apparent to all those that Konoha was not going to fall and the enemy sounded the retreat.

Suddenly Naruto felt a surge of Thanatos where the old man was kept. It was within the purple barrier. Inside a battle of the titans ensued as the Sandaime Hokage and the Shodaime Otokage, Orochimaru continued to battle. After about fifteen minutes of near dead lock it appeared that Orochimaru was gaining the upper hand when he pulled out the legendary Sword Kusunagi from his body. After the sword was draw the battle went Orochimaru's way for the next few minutes. That was unlit the Sandaime Hokage was able to get enough time to summon his personal summon, Enma the Ape Boss. The Ape Boss immediately saw the situation and transformed into his staff form. Once this happened the battle once again became even as the two living legends and their even more legendary weapons clashed again and again. After another few minutes the Hokage scored a direct hit with a powerful extended thrust with his staff knocking Orochimaru back.

That was when the Thanatos Spirit reared its ugly head again. Orochimaru then used one of his most sickening **Kinjutsu: Kyuchiyose: Edo tensei**. This jutsu brings people back from the dead for the sole purpose of serving the person that summoned them. Sandaime had guessed whom Orochimaru was bringing back from the dead. And while he couldn't stop the first two he was able to stop the last. When the caskets fully emerged from the ground the remains of Sandaime's predecessors/teachers in their prime appeared.

At the sight of this, Naruto couldn't take it anymore. The jewel on his head flashes again in a myriad of color and soon enough his entire body was engulfed in light. The barrier in front of him began to melt away and he entered. The light from the boy had a few effects: 1. it healed Sarutobi to the point that his chakra reserves felt like they were full; 2. the reanimated corpses of the Shodaime and Nidaime hokages came alive again and not controlled by Orochimaru.

Orochimaru however, got the worst effect. His body began to convulse and scream in pain. The three hokages then teamed up and cut off Orochimaru's arms entirely as well as sealing the stumps so there would be no snowball's chance in hell for him to be healed. They were about to finish the job when the sound four saved their leader and ran. As soon as the group retreated the three leaders looked at the blonde that ultimately saved them.

There on the ground which was once the roof was Naruto. He was unconscious but he continued to glow. Small seedlings began to grow as they wrapped their vines around the boy. The three leaders came closer and shodaime bent down and carried the boy to the hospital.

**Pls. Rave and Rant about it…**


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I am not profiting from this. For entertainment purposes only.

Chapter 15: Chunnin Peace Godaime

The overwhelming smell of disinfectant was the first thing that Naruto noticed upon waking. Opening his eyes, he groaned as the sunlight that pierced the room invaded his sensitive retinas.

"Ah, I see that you're finally awake Naruto-kun."

Naruto focused on the voice on his left and there sitting down on the chair next to him was the Sandaime Hokage. With the old man were quite a few people. Zabuza, Haku, the entire rookie nine, team Gai, Jiraiya, the Sand siblings and the first and second Hokage were there as well.

"How long…?" he asked them as he tried to sit up with some difficulty. Sasuke saw this and helped him sit up, which was rewarded with a smile and made the Uchiha blush slightly.

"You've been asleep for a week now, Naruto" said Sakura as she, Ino and Hinata arranged the flowers in the vases that were in the room.

What surprised Naruto was the amount of flowers in the room, not to mention the get well cards stacked up on the table next to him. His room became an exotic garden of sorts due to the amount of flowers that were bought from Ino's family's Flower shop.

"Naruto, while you slept the operations for restoring Konoha had begun and it is going smoothly. I've decided to retire from the position of Hokage and I had announced it to the people early in the week. Once you get the go ahead to leave the hospital I want you to go to the Hokage Tower." Said Sarutobi he said as he exited the room with his son, Sarutobi Asuma.

"Kazama Uzumaki-san, my brother and can't thank you enough. Even though our time has passed and we were brought back in the most sinister of ways, you have saved our souls from hell and gave us a chance to start our lives from the start. Thank you" said Shodaime Hokage as he and his brother bowed.

"The Power that governs us, Mana, has told me that both of you have a purpose still in this world and so it gave you back one that was lost to you in your original lifetime." He said looking out the window. All is right with the world again, so it seems.

Three days later Naruto finally left the hospital and he was immediately escorted to the Hokage Tower by two Anbu. Upon entering the Old Man's office he saw that he wasn't alone. Nara Shikamaru looked to the door as Naruto entered the room walking with a stride almost quite feminine in nature. He then became aware that everyone was staring at him. Crud. He was caught staring at the blonde next to him. It was quite hard not to. Naruto's usual turtleneck showed more of his midriff than it was legal; his usual pants still rode dangerously on the edge of his hips. He still wore the same toe shoes with the straps. And his hair was now loose and cascaded now reaching his lower back as it grew longer now. The thing that made this ensemble even more attractive to look at were the vines that clung and twirled around the boy's midriff, his right thigh and ending down his right ankle. The boy seemed nymph like upon first glance earning him quite a few fanclubs from both sexes within the village.

Back to the matter at hand, Sarutobi cleared his throat, glad to have the full attention of the hypnotized shadow user.

"With the success of our win against Oto, the council and I have decided that the two of you: Nara Shikamaru and Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto are to be raised to the rank of chunnin. Congratulations." He said and handed them both the official Chunnin flak jackets.

"Now as you can see I am already retired from office yet I have no successor as the Godaime. This is where you come in Naruto. I want you with the supervision of my student Jiraiya, to find my last pupil, Tsunade and bring her back to succeed as Godaime Hokage. This mission starts immediately and don't take no as an answer."

With that Shikamaru and Naruto left and went their separate ways. Knowing Jiraiya he will be near the women's hotsprings again getting "research" done. Sure enough there was the pervert giggling perversely like there's no tomorrow. He was about to knock some sense into the sage but stopped when he saw the sign in front of the bathhouse: "Welcome all Kunoichi! Half Price!"

If the sign said so then he knew Jiraiya would be in trouble. Thinking of the Kunoichi in there, various Anbu, Jounin, Chunnin, all of the above are capable of giving immense and immeasurable amount of pain if a pervert was caught. One kunoichi fell to mind at the prospect of immense pain and possibly castration upon said pervert before him: Mitarashi Anko. Enough said.

Silently he sneaked at least ten meters behind the toad sage and knelt to the ground. A green glow surrounded his hand and a large yellow flower burst from the ground. This flower was beautiful; its petals had colors ranging from various shades of red and yellow. The only thing abnormal about it was that it was bigger than the boy and that it had teeth…rows and rows of teeth (think Kurama's man eating plant from YuYu Hakusho crossed with the big flower thingy in Jumanji Movie).

The plant felt its victim in front of him and its mouth began to salivate. Out of its mouth came out a tentacle of sorts and began to slither itself to its prey. The prey hadn't noticed the danger as the thick tendril crept up one ankle and then the next ankle. And with a snap it tightened its hold on its victim's legs and began to drag its prey back to itself.

Jiraiya looked at the various beauties in front of him as he took notes for his infamous books when he felt something touch his leg. Before he could comprehend what was happening he was pulled abruptly into the surrounding woodland, his entire body being bound by nondescript tendrils just behind the onsen and was raised upwards. Looking down he saw a plant with rows and rows of jagged teeth.

"Jiraiya- Sama, what have I told you about perversion?" said the voice of his new apprentice.

"Damn Gaki! You just ruined my most valuable research material…" the sage was cut off by the blonde and was told just who was in the onsen.

At the name of Mitarashi Anko and Anbus he stopped struggling and paled significantly. The lack of complexion on the Sage's face receded even more when the boy decided to leave the MAN eating plant near the women's onsen as a safety measure against perverts.

"Sensei, we also have a mission regarding Tsunade-hime-sama. She is to be the Fifth and we mustn't fail in this mission." Naruto said dismissively.

An hour later he and Jiraiya left from the northern entrance heading off to Tanzaku city to find her. Both however never noticed a figure looking at them near the gate, with a face akin to admiration similar to that of a prepubescent boy having his first crush.

As soon as the two left the stranger made hand seals and went straight to his apartment and ripped off his facemask and forehead protector and took a cold shower. He was so confused now. He felt the sudden stirrings in his loins yet he couldn't bring himself to think about his blonde student. Never in his life was Hatake Kakashi confused.

**Hatake's House**

Crashing down on his bed Kakashi gazed up to his ceiling, his mind plagued with only one thing.

Naruto

He remembered the boy before he disappeared. A small thing with the brightest eyes, a laugh so infectious, that one would join him laughing. When he heard the news about the disappearance, he grew frantic. Once more the third had finally told him the circumstances of naruto's birth. His sensei's son! Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage's own son. That was the news that made him resign from being Anbu Captain.

For six years he did his duty as a Jounin bringing in money and business for the village. Though he was forced into becoming a jounin sensei, he would only to fail every genin team given to him. Six years the same old routine was made that is until that day…

His heart soared that day when his sensei's legacy returned and not only that but was far beyond any of his expectations. The aura that the boy possessed was close to being inhuman, almost nymph like. He remembered the barely controlled killing intent that he felt when he saw how some men and women from the village ogled at his unofficial godson akin to lust, their sights on the slim hips and the alabaster skin. The boy is definitely a sight to behold. This became more so during the Wave mission. That sight of Naruto's naked body was etched into his mind. Never had he seen anything more alluring.

Kakashi then stopped his musing and began to smother himself with his pillow. What was he thinking? There is no way that he would fall in love with a boy no less than over a decade younger than him, it's absurd! This thought however was interrupted when he remembered the kiss he received at Wave, his face turned a new shade of red at the memory. He doesn't understand it and may never will. He was however, truly and utterly proud when the boy was chosen and made into chunnin with Nara Shikamaru but then he is also vexed and jealous to say the least, especially with all the attention Naruto was getting from the entire village, not surprising since he really did brought the two founders of Konohagure no Sato back from the realm of the dead.

Kakashi then took off his mask and headband and went to bed. Troubled thought in his mind as he slept.

**Hyuuga District**

the Hyuuga council debated on something concerning Hyuuga Neji and the loss of the caged bird seal on his head.

"We MUST put the caged bird seal on the boy again!" yelled an elder

"Sir, that is quite impossible. Neji will surely die if he is to be given the seal again and besides, the seal is and can only be done on a person only once in their lives or risk destroying the Byakugan all together. We simply cannot do that to one of the most talented Hyuuga in this generation." Retaliated another elder, albeit younger than the rest

"ENOUGH!"

The entire room was silent at the outburst from Hiashi Hyuuga, the current Clan head.

Everyone looked on as the veritable wall of a man entered the room and sat on his place.

"Esteemed councilors, I have a suggestion that may in fact save us all clan-wise. Since I don't know if this will work or not, but if successful it will make the Hyuuga all the more powerful."

Hiashi smirked to himself as he noted the controlled looks of excitement from the Hyuuga Council. Nothing makes the council listen more at the prospect of more power.

"What is this suggestion of yours, Hiashi?"

"I propose that we make Neji part of the Main house. I already made arrangements for his adoption into the main house, namely he will be adopted into my family."

Deadly silence filled the room before the elders began to violently contest to this idea. However, before a word from the council even began, Hiashi spoke up with an inner fire burning within his eyes.

"I will not take no as an answer, Elders. It was Hizashi…no…my late brother's wish, his last wish on this earth that I take care of his son. The Hyuuga council hinders my brother's wish all because he was a branch member. Well, not anymore. Neji WILL become a part of the Main House, it is my promise to keep my nephew safe in his father's name."

Everyone in the room was stunned to say the least. But a plan brewed in one of the elder's head.

"Fine, I agree with your proposal for Neji to be moved to the Main house, however, another child shall take his place. Hinata Hyuuga will take her cousin's place and will be given the seal." the elder sneered at Hiashi, only to see a look on the Hyuuga that clearly said 'checkmate'

"Ah, Yes. About my daughters, I shall give my assessment now on their performance. Firstly, Hanabi is showing great progress in her use of both the Byakugan and the Hyuuga fighting style. This is quite an achievement considering her young age. Hinata, however, though not as talented in the clan style, had recently showed an unimaginable prowess when I comes to medical studies, another fine career for Hyuuga even if it is unheard of."

Hiashi then took out one of Hinata's healing balms from his person as well as a vial of purple liquid and placed both items in front of him. He had a hard time convincing his eldest daughter to give him samples of her concoctions but she relented when he told her of his plan.

"These, esteemed elders, are the creations of Hinata in her own practice. I had taken the liberty of showing these to the healers in the Hospital and was surprised at the Healers' reaction. Apparently, Hinata's balm in itself was a great help for many patients that endured injuries that are potentially life threatening. Currently there is a Leaf shinobi that had endured third degree burns from stray Katon Jutsus during the failed invasion. After rubbing the balm on the man's skin the results after its use were almost immediate. The man's burns became less noticeable and the pain etched on his face was alleviated and according to the healers with continuous use of her healing balm, the burns will become non-existent within a matter of a few days. The Healers were so impressed that they asked Hinata to teach them how to make it so it will be a part of the medical pack that all shinobi are issued next year."

The Council was stunned. The simple balm in front of them was given such fuss. All of them were now eyeing the vial as to what it was. Seeing the looks on the council's faces, Hiashi was more than happy to continue.

"This vial is another concoction of Hinata's own design. All of you must have heard that various shinobi had fallen victim to poison from Orochimaru's summoned snakes, Correct?"

Everyone nodded

"I don't know how, but Hinata was able to get the anti venom from one of the snakes and was able to make an antidote. She gave a sample to the hospital and was given to the shinobi with the highest venom count and the antidote had done its job and passed with flying colors. Even as we speak the samples are being mass produced for the benefit of the village."

Again the Council was flabbergasted. The Heiress that was supposed to be a failure was a heroine in the Medical Field, a prodigy in her own right. With the exception of two members of the Hyuuga council who stubbornly refuse, everyone accepted the change. Hiashi smiled as he left the room. Everything will be right in the world soon enough.

Whilst the meeting was in session none of the council members noticed three pairs of eyes watching from the next room. Hinata, Hanabi, and Neji couldn't believe the news that they are currently hearing. All three were bursting with joy and all three left the scene and went to Hinata's room. As soon as the door closed, all three made a three way hug.

"Neji congratulations! I'm so happy for you!" cried Hanabi

"Y-yes c-c-congratulations Neji nii-san." Said Hinata

"Since now you'll be part of the main house now and will be our new adopted brother, may I call you Onii-san?' asked Hanabi. With a nod from Neji the little girl flung herself onto him and tightened her hug.

"Thank you both. I was quite surprised with Hinata though. I never knew that your skills in the medical field were that advanced. Nevertheless, I think you will be a great medic nin and I hope you forgive me for what I did to you in the preliminaries, Hinata." Said Neji

"Yes. She will make a fine medic nin like her mother before her." said a voice beyond the door. The door opened revealing Hiashi with a kind smile on his face. "As you three overheard" at this all three blushed crimson "Yes, Neji will be a part of the main House. This change might even one day erase the barriers between our families. It will take time but I'm sure it would happen." Said the Hyuuga Clan leader and knelt before the three.

"Hinata, forgive me for being harsh with you. The only reason why I pushed you like I did was because the Hyuuga council thought of you as a liability and intended for you to be given the caged bird seal. I am so proud that you decided to take a career that's to your liking. After all, Hyuugas in the medical field are rare but not unheard of."

That very night the announcement was made and everyone couldn't be happier for Neji and things in the Hyuuga Compound was only beginning to look better. All of this is, of course, in Neji's belief was because of his ethereal looking opponent that freed him and taught him to basically cast his own stone. With a silent vow, he will do so.

**Uchiha District**

Uchiha Sasuke had a lot of things happening in his life; His estranged and considered mentally deranged brother massacred his entire clan, a snake-incarnate pedophile trying to give him a hickey and fortunately enough failing to do so. Yup, so far he's led a really crappy life. Everything in his life felt monotonous. Even the rage he felt for his brother had begun to be monotonously old. There were some good moments though; being rookie of the year, having the attention of many of the villagers, and of course having the sharingan finally activated. Yet none of it mattered, at least now. For the first time in years, he was able to think clearly. Why had Itachi killed the entire clan but not him? He also looked back on how he acted towards others and immediately felt shame. With a resolute glint in his eye he silently vowed to change and vowed to know the truth. Silently he thanked his Nymph-like teammate Naruto. Even with this however, his curious nature came back full force at the thought of his teammate. He then remembered his very emotions during the exam as well as during the invasion.

The way Naruto fought Kiba during the exam, with an illusion as well as a song was very unorthodox, yet highly effective. He barely remembered a new song being sung during the invasion and enemy nins within its hearing range all collapsed under its strain, some rumored to have died over simply hearing it as the song climaxed. (Think Diva's Song in Blood +) he felt at that moment was a string of jealousy. How did this person outshine him, the last and loyal Uchiha, in everything! Heck, he even brought the first and second Hokage back to life and was the only other genin in their age group other than that lazy ass, Shikamaru, who made chunnin! His tone and jealousy of course quickly disintegrated especially when he saw Naruto in the hospital and confined there as he was asleep, in a healing coma. A new emotion he had never felt for anyone else had awakened when he saw the pale and very vulnerable form of his teammate. Over protectiveness, never had he felt such emotion. He couldn't explain it. When Kiba tried to lighten the moment by attempting to draw on his teammate's face as a joke, he was not amused. In fact Kiba should be out of the hospital once the doctors figure out how to take the guy's head out of the wall in one of the janitor's closets as he used Shinobi patented crazy glue to keep him there.

There was one thing that he noticed odd was the way the plants in the room seemed to flourish upon his very presence not withstanding that these plants weren't even watered during their time in the hospital. The various flowers in the room hadn't blossomed until the said blonde woke up. Now this wasn't strange. The strange part about this was they ALL blossomed _at the same time_. It was only later he had remembered their conversation in the Forest of death That he understood especially after Naruto dressed with that a vine-like plant winding itself around his teammate. In silence he vowed to protect his village, his friends, and protect Naruto to the best of his abilities.

While these three gentlemen pressed on with their thoughts, the stars and the heavens looked down upon them as their secret audience as Mana Chosen them in silence.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I am not profiting from this. For entertainment purposes only.

Chapter 17: Truth Purpose

During their walk to the nearest Gambling town, Jiraiya finally and only noticed the look on his student's face. When asked about it, the child next to him denied itand kept walking.

Jiraiya was baffled to say the least. As he looked at his student and the vines on his person and decided then and there that there mustn't be any secrets to be kept.

When the duo (trio if you count kyuubi) reached the town Jiraiya opted to find them an inn to sleep at. Once they were settled Naruto was surrounded by walls of pinkish flesh and was pushed to one of the walls which in turn sucked him in leaving his head. As Kyuubi was a Spirit, he couldn't do anything but watch the proceedings as the sage trapped Naruto in the summoning toad stomach surrounding them.

"All right, brat. You better tell me what's going on. No more secrets. I mean it."

Naruto was tempted to lie but the look on Jiraiya's face said otherwise. With a heavy heart he began his tale.

"Long, Long ago, when the world was still flat, back before anyone knew of magic, a tiny yet beautiful island of Illusia floated in the center of the ocean. In those days, even up to now five great countries flourished on the continent of Fa 'Diel: Jadd, the land of Sand; Toppel, the land of Water; Wendell, the land of Green; Ishe, the land of Fire and lastly Lorimar, the land of Ice.

On the Island of Illusia stood a Great Tree that existed long before the world began, it was believed that the tree was the mother of all living things in this world. Years had passed and the tree became stone seemingly dead. Now, a thousand years had passed and a young man named Keldy and a Tree Maiden named Ritzia stood and bore witness as Stroud, the lord of Lorimar invaded the island. Seeking for help, Keldy and Ritzia entered the ruins to awaken the guardian beast, Flammie to protect their home. Within the ruins Keldy became host to a Seed from the Great Tree. There they also met a spirit child called Faye. When the trio was unsuccessful in finding the Guardian Beast, they were assaulted by Stroud's men. They were told that the cursed land of Mavolia was sealed beneath the Island. With Ritzia taken hostage, and under the spell of Thanatos, she opened the door to Mavolia, covering the world in darkness and all that it touched turned into Grimslies.

Keldy and Faye were lucky and fled Illusia and began a rebellion against Thanatos. A year later the pair encountered the Grimsley Lekius in Jadd and defeated Lekius' dying breath he revealed that the world will be overrun by Thanatos in three days. Not wasting anymore time, Keldy and Faye traveled to Illusia where they defeated Stroud and with a heavy heart slew Ritzia in order to save her. In her last moments Faye merged herself and the Mana Seed with Ritzia, revived the Great Tree and closed the Door to Mavolia. From then on the three entities, a tree maiden, a spirit and a seed formed the Goddess of the Great tree.

Six years ago after a rather intense beating, I hid myself in the forest and begged, prayed for someone…anyone to help me. my wish came true when eight spirits came to me: **Gnome**, the spirit of Earth; **Salamander**, spirit of Fire; **Shade**, spirit of Darkness; **Jinn**, spirit of Wind; **Luna**, spirit of Moon light; **Wisp**, spirit of proper Light; **Dryad**, the spirit of the Trees and finally **Undine**, Spirit of Ice. These spirits brought me to Fa' Diel, namely on the holy island of Illusia. Its there I met the Goddess of the Great Tree. She told me of being a Mana Child; that my father was once taken there as well when he was a boy. Under her guidance I learned to harness the powers of the elements from the spirits themselves. As for my archery and my stealth I was taught by Lekius, one of the Tree Folk. I also learned from her about the origin of what you call as Bijuu. Long ago there were nine spirit animals that governed the lands. The Goddess had ordered them to guard the elemental countries and keep the peace. This peace continued on for thousands of years. These Guardians were the nine spirit guardians which the humans called the tailed demons. Shinobi from the elemental countries thought the spirits were demons. This peace however ended when Thanatos, the evil spirit of Mavolia, corrupted the humans into enslaving the spirits and upon their enslavement they too would be corrupted by the spirit of Thanatos. Without them in their correct states of mind, each spirit that had been captured attacked the humans. The Fourth Hokage seeing the Great Spirit in pain, he couldn't bear to kill it, and so with the cost of his own life he destroyed the evil Thanatos and sealed the spirit within a newborn whose chakra coils were still developing. Only a Mana Child can calm a Great Spirit. With the Goddess' help Kyuubi was released from me, all of his power still in me while Kyuubi remains as my spirit companion just as Faye had been for Keldy. All of this continued for six years. By the end of the sixth year I was summoned to the Goddess and was told that Fa 'Diel was dying, the Mana Tree as well as she was dying. The Mana Seed and the elements is all that is left. She gave me the seed to 'nourish', and the jewel on my forehead to control my use over the elements' power. Afterwards the elements sent me back here and Fa 'Diel is dead."

"That still doesn't explain things nor make it clearer. And what the heck do you mean be nourishing the seed?' asked a very confused yet enlightened Jiraiya.

"The seed had told me through the connection I have with it that the Jewel on my forehead not only controls my powers but it also siphons the amount of Mana I use and feeds on that energy. As you can see the seed had planted itself within me and has begun to take root" he said pointing out the vines on his body "and once it has enough energy it will be revived and Kyuubi and I are bound to have our existence cease."

"What do you mean?"

"The moment the seed has had enough energy to revive the tree then I will die."

Pls. rave and rant about it….


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I am not profiting from this. For entertainment purposes only.

Chapter 18: Tsunade Red Dawn Free

Jiraiya can't believe what he was hearing. Naruto was to die. What went wrong when his original student planned to seal the Kyuubi into his own son? Did fate really intend for this series of events to happen? He discreetly looked at the boy next to him as they entered Tanzaku City, the nearest gambling town to Konoha and gazed at the vines that wound around the boy with disdain. Fate was indeed a cruel mistress. Another life that is years younger than him may not live long enough to reach a ripe full age. Sure, being a shinobi meant a shorter lifespan but to die because a plant was leeching off of another person's life was not what he would expect to be the cause of death of any shinobi. He was of course brought out of his musings to Naruto's voice.

"There is a difference between being forced into a role and willingly acting on a role and believe me, I chose to be the new vessel that carries the Great Tree. This is truly an honor in itself, more than I could even dream of."

Not trusting his voice at the moment, Jiraiya led the boy to the nearest inn and told him to stay put and rest while he searched the town for the elusive slug princess. With his thoughts plaguing him he never noticed two individuals on another roof wearing cloaks with red clouds on them, their heads and faces hidden behind travelers hats with a distinct bell attached at the front.

Silently, the two assailants walk to the room of their intended target and knocked on the door. The door opened but there was no face to meet them. The taller one looked at the shorter one then both entered the room, the bigger one had his hand clenched tightly onto the handle on the tightly wrapped object on his back while the other one searched the room. All of a sudden a plethora of vines wrapped itself around the two and to prevent them from moving further their lower body was encased in ice crystals and fireballs hovered menacingly close to their bodies.

"Uchiha Itachi, former shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato and Hoshigaki Kisame, former member of seven shinobi swordsmen and shinobi of kirigakure no Sato, as well as beings chosen ones of Salamander and Undine, why have you come?" said the boy, an immense red flower bursting out of the foliage opening its petals to reveal said boy sitting in its center.

"We have come to take you with us to Akatsuki. We need the Kyuubi no Kitsune deep within you." Itachi told him in a monotonous voice.

"Now untie us or I'll make this 'garden' into coleslaw!" yelled the blue skinned man.

As soon as Kisame said that both nins felt a power emanating form the boy as the jewel on his head began to flash in a myriad of colors. While this happened, excruciating pain engulfed both men. As they writhed in pain, a dark and sinister, let's not forget to mention…EVIL shadow began to surround the two as it was forced out of their bodies. The shadow tried to enter both men again when an arrow tipped with the light of the elements shot though its formless body destroying it.

Naruto looked on as the shadow twisted itself and exploded. Nodding in satisfaction at the destruction of another Thanatos spirit he placed Itachi and Kisame on the beds to recuperate.

By the time Jiraiya got back to their room he was greeted much to his surprise by Naruto on the beds (connected beds) playing strip poker with two infamous missing nins and said missing nins are both in their underwear with a definite twitch in their eye. The twitch of course got worse when Naruto showed them his hand.

"Ok…did I miss something here?"

**A Few Minutes later**

"Okay, from the top again…how in God's name were you recruited into Akatsuki?" questioned Jiraiya at the two S- class nukenins. This would be the fifth, no, the sixth time they will have to explain their circumstance.

"As we had told you earlier, the leader of the Akatsuki invited us as well as other members to the organization and on the chance that we were to refuse the invite" said Itachi

"We were put in a very powerful genjutsu that controlled our very consciousness." Finished Kisame

"O.K., so the leader has members under mind control. Do you remember anyone else in the group that is under your very same circumstance?"

"Well, we remember only two people: Akasuna no Sasori and Iwa no Deidara. From what I heard both of their loved ones were threatened." said Itachi.

"And the Uchiha Massacre?" asked Jiraiya

"Something else killed them all. The damn bastard took on my form to pin the blame on me! I saw it shift into my form with my own two eyes. Mother and father saw it too and it killed them as well." said Itachi his hands bunched up in fists making his knuckles white.

"What was the feeling that was emanating from it?" Naruto asked as he absently made the plants in the room bloom.

"Cold, Dark, Evil were the words that came to mind." Said the Uchiha

"Now that you mention it, I felt the same when that thrice damned genjutsu was placed on us." Said Kisame.

"That was the spirit of Thanatos at work. It grants power and almost invulnerability to its possessed at the price that you lose yourself completely in its power. Thanatos seeks to plunge the world into complete darkness."

"What should we do? We can't return to our villages as we are now criminals." Said Itachi.

"First of all, we need to find Tsunade and make her agree to become Godaime. With her on the scene there's a chance that both of you will be pardoned and be put back in the shinobi corps as you were really innocent of all of your crimes. Secondly, we have to rescue those other two members that you mentioned."

And so the five of them (counting kyuubi after Itachi's initial freak-out at the sight of the spirit that attacked his home) went off to find the last loyal sannin; and thanks to purely luck and a huge crowd in a local casino, they found her…losing a hefty amount of money to the local dealers…again. (The Legendary sucker strikes again!) while her brunette short haired assistant looked like on the verge of collapsing holding a pig with a vest to her bosom imploring her master to stop playing only to fall to deaf ears.

**Casino**

"So, you up for another game lady?" said the dealer smugly at the obviously debt ridden woman when she lost another hand to him.

Before the woman could utter a word someone stepped up and sat down to her right and smiled at the dealer. Tsunade looked on as the dealer's face took on many emotions simultaneously. The first was happiness, afterwards was shock, followed closely by lust. The last emotion made her curious so she looked to her right and saw possibly the most beautiful face she had ever seen in her lifetime.

"May I play along? I am quite intrigued by this game and I've never played it before…" the mysterious person told them trailing the unfinished sentence purposely.

"Sure kid. Now as you can see all players make a bet and whoever wins the game takes whatever the other person bets, didja get that?" said the dealer coming back from his trance. A lewd smile on his face as the stranger nodded.

"O.K., I bet all of my money that I just won." Declared the dealer to the suitcase filled with money as well as sacks full of money that he won from other players.

"Fine, I bet all that is left of my money." Said Tsunade defiantly

"Umm…I don't know what to bet for…what you suggest should I bet then?" said the boy? / girl?

" ok, hows about if you lose you will do as I say, whatever the request for the rest of the day?" said the lecherous man

Before Tsunade could interfere, the stranger nodded his/ her acceptance to the deal.

A few minutes into the game and finally Tsunade brought down her losing hand (two pairs and a three of a kind) and lost all her money in the process. Smirking at his success, the dealer brought down His hand: a straight in Diamonds.

"Ha! Beat that kid" the dealer said as he envisioned the beauty before him doing… wicked things. Enough said.

The stranger fidgeted a bit and set down his hand and shocked all that were watching. Why the shock? Well, apparently the newbie by some form of luck was able to get a straight of spares in other words: a royal Flush.

"The kid…won." Said a customer, shock still evident in his voice.

The dealer then accused the stranger of cheating when he heard a hauntingly beautiful melody escape from the stranger's lips and no sooner than that everyone in the casino fell asleep.

Jiraiya then took his chance and carried his former teammate while the two ex- Akatsuki members did the same with her assistant and her pet pig and Naruto to collect the winnings.

**Hotel Room**

Tsunade woke up from her impromptu nap and found herself in an unknown room. Panic seized her and she immediately went on the defensive as she eyed her surroundings. It was only then that she noticed her assistant, Shizune and their pig, TonTon asleep in the bed next to hers.

Suddenly the door of the room opened and in the room came, to her surprise, was Jiraiya, the attractive young stranger and finally two currently S-class missing nins, Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi.

Seeing her teammate with two other dangerous men, Tsunade initially thought that Jiraiya betrayed Konoha and banded together with these missing nins, but where does this kid fit in?

"Tsunade-hime, sorry for whatever happened earlier but we have to talk" said Jiraiya with a serious tone, making her nervous all the more.

_**A few minutes later**_

"OH HELL, NO!"

Tsunade didn't like the thought of coming back to Konoha, let alone becoming Hokage. Not even the added capabilities of the two missing nins, Jiraiya, and much to her chagrin, Shizune AND Tonton could change her mind on the matter that is until…

"Shodaime-sama, Nidaime-sama, as well as Sandaime-ojisan will not be pleased of this result" said Naruto as he somehow took Tonton from Shizune and began petting it on its head.

"What do you mean gaki? Why would my grandfather and great uncle matter, their both dead if you didn't realize." She told him questioning the young Chunnin's sanity.

"That's just the thing, Tsunade-sama, both the first and second hokages are indeed alive." He told her.

"What he said is true, Tsunade- Hime. Both are alive and well and are waiting for your arrival"

The more she heard the more she got angry, yet a deeper side within her was hoping that the news were true.

"Hime-sama, have I ever lied to you especially if it was truly important? Please at least think it through." Jiraiya practically pleads.

"Tsunade-sensei please can we go back" begged Shizune. She still she said no.

"Why don't we make a bet then?" she perked up a bit at this point.

"The bet will be thus: you come with us to Konoha and see for yourself if the founders of Konoha are alive. If we are telling the truth you will stay in Konoha and be our Godaime. However, if you find us lying, you can leave without a backward glance, and you can kill me for lying to you."

Tsunade was shocked at the terms of the bet but accepted the terms nonetheless.

That night Tsunade can't sleep a wink. The words of Naruto haunted her to no end. It was already 1am according to the clock at her bedside table. Seeing that she can't sleep, she took her Jacket and took a midnight stroll.

She thought about what had happened in the last few hours, the entourage, the bet, and most importantly the boy (she still couldn't believe that what she thought as a she was actually a he!) she was so into her thoughts that she didn't notice where she walked. When she finally looked at her surroundings she found herself in the forest clearing, a field of flowers in every imaginable color, surrounding the meadow was a pond filled with crystal blue water. Fireflies danced around near the shores their light beautiful under the moon's faint light.

As she turned around to go back to the hotel room her ears picked up the distinct sound of miniscule laughter behind her she looked back only to see a vision unlike anything else.

A little boy no older than six, so it seemed was laughing and playing with the different colored lights surrounding him along with him was a cute animal with a very long bushy tail hovering in the air attempting to catch one of the lights as well. After a few minutes of play, the boy and the sprite (what she believed) sat down near the water's edge, the colored lights following them. Out of nowhere a woman that Tsunade swore was even more beautiful than her came up to the boy. The boy noticed the lady and ran towards her and wrapped his small arms around her legs in a hug which she graciously returned.

The very vision itself reminded the slug sannin of all the good times she had with her deceased brother as well as those of her lover. With a smile, she turned around and left the clearing. Done with her inner conflict, she has chosen her path.

She never noticed upon her exit as the small boy disappeared and was replaced with another boy, golden hair floating aimlessly in the wind. Next to him was the same fox spirit in the vision, unchanged in time. Lastly, eight elementals came out of their hiding places, relieved that she had left.

"That was a close one. Never imagined that she'd been able to cross the barrier we all set up." Naruto said releasing his breath.

"Yes, she is indeed the descended of my chosen." Dryad said to them

"I believe we can adjourn this meeting for now due to the circumstances" said Shade to the others around him. Everyone agreed.

"I wonder what the barrier's Mana made her see though?" asked Naruto to Kyuubi

"**Who knows? Mana works in mysterious ways." **

**The next day**

It was no short of a miracle. She agreed to be Hokage. Something Jiraiya never thought he'd see. Without further ado the entire group set a fast pace for Konoha.

Pls. rave and rant about it….


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I am not profiting from this. For entertainment purposes only.

Chapter 20: Godaime Filler time

While the Konoha Tsunade Retrieval Team dashed on to Konoha they never knew what was happening in Otogakure. Deep within the bowels of the village lay Orochimaru as he sat on his throne completely drained, armless and in severe pain.

'How dare that impudent brat and those insufferable Kages do to me?'

The fact that he ran with his tail between his legs and unable to fulfill at least one of his goals in defeat wasn't enough, it was being humiliated because of an interfering brat with a weed growing out of his person that makes him down right murderous. The wave of killing intent he was releasing wasn't helping either.

'Whatever that brat did, it sped up this body's deterioration process' he told himself as he saw the skin near his legs rot slowly but surely.

'I have to get a new body and fast' he told himself

Suddenly, his right hand man, Yakushi Kabuto, came in the throne room but there was something off about him. He had a glazed look in his eye as he knelt in front of his master.

Suddenly the Snake sannin heard a voice in the back of his head

_**UsE hiM. He wIll DO foR noW. Kill tHe SLug saNnin. KILL the MaNa boy with her.**_

Agreeing with the voice he noticed tendrils of black energy ripping him from his body and thrusting his very soul into Kabuto. A few minutes of agony later Yakushi Kabuto had ceased to exist. Orochimaru had a new body and a mission to fulfill.

**Konoha Tsunade Retrieval Team**

They arrived in Konoha in record time and there greeted them were the three kages two of which she ran up to.

"Grandfather! Grand Uncle! I- I never thought in my wildest dreams…How?" she said crying into the shodaime's chest, the nidaime comforting her making soothing circles on her back

"My little princess, look at how you've grown." Her Grandfather told her as he held her "I never thought that we'd never see you again and as a grown up. So many things had happened and we missed it but thanks to Naruto at least we can make a new future again."

The group around the founding family had tears in their eyes at the joyous and emotional reunion.

**A month later **

Tsunade stood on the balcony of the Hokage tower as she was proclaimed Godaime Hokage and the whole village celebrated. Upon her new rule she acted immediately in changing the village as a whole. Her ambition for new medic nins was done with a declaration of a new program in the ninja training to add medics in genin teams. It was no surprise to the rookies that Hinata Hyuuga, Haruno Sakura and Ino Yamanaka all joined the medic nin training under the Godaime. She was also able to change the councils in Konoha, by replacing the corrupt members with new ones that she knows she can trust to make sound decisions. She also hunted down Danzo, Konoha's war hawk, and totally disintegrated ROOT Anbu, something that impressed Sarutobi to no end. Some of the ROOT members were taken out of their brainwashed states thanks to Naruto and his abilities and were soon capable of living their lives in complete normalcy.

Tsunade looked in dismay at the amount of paperwork that she had to accomplish and wondered to herself again why she agreed to take the job only to remember that beautiful night and that wondrous vision. Steeling herself she began to sign the documents when she was told by Anbu of five nuke nin in front of the gates of Konoha, all wearing black cloaks and red clouds.

She got up from her seat and shunshined to the gate.

Uchiha Sasuke ran as fast as he could toward the gate when he heard about his brother at Konoha's Northern/main gate from the village gossips that afternoon while he shopped for groceries.

He knew that the former hate that blossomed in his heart had wilted; But he was still unsure. He wanted, no, NEEDED to know his brother's side of the story.

**Konoha Northern Gate/ Main Gate**

As the two nuke nin waited for the arrival of the Godaime with two very unconscious nuke nins with them (Deidara had swirly eyes and a humungous lump on his head and Sasori's heart somehow outside his puppet body), Itachi began to reminisce the events that transpired only a month ago while Kisame and a new companion Zetsu kept watch on their captive friends.

_**Flashback**_

As the retrieval team for Tsunade came closer to Konoha the two nuke nin decides to split up in order to make it so it would not look suspicious for other members. So the pair returned to the hideout and kept a low profile so as not to be noticed.

Nearly a month had past but they were adamant in escape. They did their best in sabotaging the group from the inside and freeing the captive jinchuuriki or at least made it easier for escape. Finally however they had an opportune moment to finalize their plan. Whilst the others were out on missions, they found out that only five people were left in the HQ: Kisame and himself, deidara, sasori (not in his huge armor), and Zetsu.

Deidara was quickly immobilized by the duo but sasori was a little harder to defeat. Surprisingly, it was Zetsu who was able to take the heart cylinder on Sasori's puppet body with very little effort.

Both nins were weary of the plant man but he had explained that the moment of the burst of energy months before (Konoha Failed Invasion) he began to feel clearness in his thoughts as if a great weight had been lifted from his body. Even with the story they didn't believe him that is until their major elements Undine and Salamander as well as Dryad came and told them that Zetsu was indeed telling the truth.

Before the five nins left they took their rings off of their fingers and destroyed them, leaving Akatsuki for good.

_**Flashback end**_

Itachi was nudged by his partner at Tsunade's arrival as well as that of the Shodaime, Nidaime, and Sandaime.

There was only silence as he wordlessly told Anbu to restrain them and meet her in her office. As the group walked stoically to their destination, Sasuke ran to the group as soon as he spotted the entourage.

"Itachi!" Sasuke yelled his shout earning him his brother looking at him

"Itachi, please tell- "

"Later little brother, I'll tell you everything." Said Itachi as the group continued to walk past Sasuke who followed them.

**Hokage's office**

"Seeing as you had shown us proof that you are indeed not the one responsible for the Uchiha Massacre then I, as Godaime Hokage reinstate you, Itachi Uchiha, as Konoha shinobi under probation for six months with the rank of Jounin.

In the case of Hoshigake Kisame and Zetsu, are now under probation for six months and is allowed entry into Konoha and is accepted as its new shinobi."

That was Tsunade's decree and the three nins were given new forehead protectors. After a few more minutes Naruto came in the room

"you summoned me Tsunade-sama?"

"Yes Naruto, Itachi, Kisame and Zetsu have brought Akasuna no Sasori and Iwa no Deidara for better of a term, 'cleansing'."

"Of Course. Good Day to you, and welcome again, Chosens of Salamander, Undine and Dryad."

The three acknowledged him and the group went to the connecting room of the office where they kept the two missing nins.

After the evil energy was destroyed Sasori and Deidara swore allegiance to Konoha and was given the same stipulations like the others. Temporarily, the former Akatsuki members except for Itachi were given lodgings in the village inn.

The moment the group left the office of the village leader, Itachi was confronted by Sasuke and with a sigh told his brother _finally_ the truth.

"So, you were framed? Why couldn't you have said so before?" asked Sasuke

"That thing would have killed you too." Was the only thing he answered.

Time stopped for the brothers as they stood in front of each other then all of a sudden Sasuke ran over to his brother and after years of restraint the dam finally broke and Sasuke cried. In silence Itachi did as a brother did and held Sasuke to him rubbing soothing circles on his back reassuring him over and over that everything will be fine. He was finally home

Pls. rave and rant about it….


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